We love this stainless steel rice washer from Helen’s Asian Kitchen, a line of products by iconic Chinese-American chef Helen Chen. The rice washer doubles in function as a colander, and at 3 quarts it is just the right size for your everyday kitchen draining jobs. With rice, the device allows one to cover the rice with water and swish it around; there are tiny drain holes near the spout that hold the grains in as you’re washing your rice. You can use this simple bowl for rinsing any sort of produce, including berries—a simple but brilliant concept. We like that this bowl features a perforated lip instead of an open spout, which helps keep food inside the colander when draining. As for cooking rice, I use a ceramic Japanese rice cooker (the Kamado-San Double-Lid Donabe Rice Cooker—available in our store) and use slightly less water than rice.

Christmas Lima Beans are nothing like the grainy lima beans most people are familiar with, but rather incredibly creamy with a savory, herbal flavor that hints at green garlic. Zürsun partners with small Idaho farms to produce this heirloom bean varietal, which have beautiful, mottled maroon and white skins. Once cooked, the beans become incredibly creamy, but the skins are sturdy enough to help keep them intact. Try Christmas Lima Beans as a smooth, buttery alternative to lima beans or butter beans, such as in place of white beans for bean dip, or pureed in soups for a silky upgrade.

Closer to couscous than extruded pasta, fregola from Sardinia, Italy, has an irregular, pebble-like shape with a coarse exterior that grips sauces. Historic producer Rustichella d'Abruzzo—a family company that traces its roots back to 1924 in Penne, Italy—makes its pasta using traditional methods, including slow-drying at low temperatures over the course of days. Fregola's pronounced wheaty flavor can be further enhanced through toasting in a dry skillet for a few minutes. Cook it like you would conventional pasta, in roiling salted water, or simmer like risotto for a creamy texture, adding small amounts of hot water or broth and stirring frequently; we also like to simmer it in soups and stews. Fregola cooks quickly, making it perfect for weeknight cooking.

Orecchiette—a small, round, dimpled pasta from Puglia—is one of our favorite pasta shapes because of its unique balancing of chewy and tender textures. The delicate edges cook more thoroughly than the dense, chewy center, providing textural contrast, and the cupped shape holds onto sauce. Rustichella d'Abruzzo's handmade version is made with Senatore Cappelli heirloom wheat, a native Italian varietal. The historic family company traces its roots back to 1924 in Penne, Italy, and still makes its pasta using traditional methods, including slow-drying at low temperatures over the course of days; this dedication and attention to detail result in high-quality, delicious orecchiette. Feel free to use it in any recipe where a chunky pasta is specified. Try one of our Tuesday Night favorites, Orecchiette with Sausage and Chard.

Plump but small, these heirloom Anasazi Beans about the same size as pinto beans, with a dappled maroon and cream pattern and subtly sweet, earthy flavor. They are excellent for adding creamy body to soups and stews; we especially like to treat them as pinto beans to make dips or refried beans.

North African couscous often appears in Sicilian cooking because of their geographic proximity—take, for instance, couscous alla Trapanese, which pairs fresh seafood with the tiny pasta shape. This satisfyingly chewy couscous is made with farro, an ancient grain with a light nutty flavor reminiscent of oats or barley. Historic Italian producer Rustichella d'Abruzzo—a family company that traces its roots back to 1924 in Penne, Italy—makes its pasta using traditional methods, including slow-drying at low temperatures over the course of days. Try Rustichella d'Abruzzo Farro Couscous with our North African Chicken Couscous.

Canaan's organic freekeh has a delicate, toasty aroma and an earthy, nutty taste, with subtle grassy notes from the green wheat and a satisfying chewy texture. Use this grain as you would brown rice or quinoa, for a simple side or pilaf.

Black Beluga Lentils are earthy-sweet and slightly peppery, with a more delicate flavor than regular brown lentils. These heirloom lentils, grown on small Idaho farms, pair beautifully with flavors like earthy garlic, tangy cheeses like feta and bright contrasts such as vinegars and citrus.

These premium dried chickpeas from Italian artisanal producer Casa Corneli are creamy when rehydrated but keep their shape well and are never mushy. Casa Corneli's Ceci Chickpeas are also slightly denser and more petite than the bloated canned chickpeas from other brands, with a buttery, earthy-sweet and aromatic flavor profile that tastes great even without salt. We also appreciate that the producer vacuum-seals the chickpeas to preserve freshness.

Similar to couscous, maftoul consists of small pearls hand-rolled from whole-wheat bulgur and flour.

Italian producer Casa Corneli's Castelluccio lentils are a delicate, complexly flavored local varietal from Umbria that cook up plump and tender, with an earthy, sweet and light woodsy taste that's far superior to supermarket varieties. We love how they have just enough bite to them and retain their shape when properly cooked: They're not as mushy as regular brown lentils but also less papery than most green lentils. Try these exceptional lentils in salads or brothy soups to take advantage of their texture.

Italian artisanal producer Pasta Mancini extrudes its Spaghetti alla Chitarra through unique bronze dies, based on traditional knowledge that bronze equipment yields porous, rough-surfaced pasta that helps sauce cling to the noodles. This chitarra pasta has a satisfying chewy texture that falls somewhere between spaghetti and bucatini; its square cross-section has slightly more surface area than cylindrical noodles, so it holds onto sauce amazingly well. Made from local, freshly milled semolina flour, the pasta is slow-dried over the course of days to better preserve its robust flavor and texture.

With an exceptionally high protein content between 11 percent and 13 percent, Maine Grains' whole-wheat flour is produced in a stone mill, which generates less heat in order to preserve the heritage varietal's robust, aromatic flavor and nutritious compounds. 

Italian artisanal producer Pasta Mancini extrudes its Fusilli Lunghi (“long fusilli”) through unique bronze dies, based on traditional knowledge that bronze equipment yields porous, rough-surfaced pasta that helps sauce cling better to the noodle. We like how this twirly pasta cooks more evenly than grocery-store fusilli and has a tighter spiral for a more satisfying bite. Made from local, freshly milled semolina flour, the pasta is slow-dried over the course of days to better preserve its robust flavor and texture.

If you are tired of tasteless white rice, let me introduce you to Genmai Rice. When I first tasted genmai two years ago, my first thought was that this rice was a miracle—it cooks quickly, just like white rice, but has the rich, earthy flavor and satisfying chewiness of great brown rice. Once you taste Sukoyaka Genmai, you will never go back. How is this possible? It is an American-grown short-grain brown rice that has had a portion of the outer bran layer is scrubbed away, allowing the grains to hydrate faster while retaining most of their nutritional properties. The nutty, earthy-tasting grains are distinct and just a touch sticky, making the rice perfect for accompanying stir-fries, curries, soups and stews, although I make it two or three times a week as a starter, for any sort of topping from steamed vegetables to quickly grilled chicken or steak. Matt, Card, our food editor, also swears by it for fried rice. He keeps a batch frozen in the freezer for a quick batch: Just defrost on the countertop, and it's ready to go for a virtually instant meal. Buy as much as you can afford, since genmai will become your go-to rice after the first bite.

Italian artisanal producer Pasta Mancini extrudes its Mezze Maniche through unique bronze dies, based on traditional knowledge that bronze equipment yields porous, rough-surfaced pasta that helps sauce cling better to the noodle. This tube pasta is slightly shorter and wider than rigatoni, which makes for easy sauce distribution; its versatile shape is great for everything from rustic soups and hearty ragu to casseroles and pasta salad. Made from local, freshly milled semolina flour, the pasta is slow-dried over the course of days to better preserve its robust flavor and texture.

Grown and traditionally milled in Ireland, these oats have a hearty texture, with a pleasant, tender chew from the barely cut oat berries. They cook up creamy thanks to the starch content, and though the oatmeal becomes stickier as it cools, it's never gluey like some versions that have a lot of powdery filler. We love how Flahavan's oats have a nutty, toasty depth of flavor on their own and taste equally delicious whether you pair them with berries and fruit, warming brown sugar or rich nut butters.

Lighter than conventional whole-wheat flour but with a higher wheat kernel and wheat germ content than all-purpose flour, Maine Grains' organic heritage flour is sifted to remove some of the wheat bran, for a consistency that's more similar to all-purpose than other brands of whole-wheat flour.