Pudding rice is a short-grain rice prized for desserts, notably the creamy rice pudding of British and European kitchens. The grains look chalky and opaque when raw, a sign of their particular starch structure, and cook up soft and sticky rather than separate and fluffy. That stickiness comes from a high proportion of amylopectin, the branched starch molecule that swells and releases into the cooking liquid, thickening it naturally into a creamy sauce around the tender grains. It absorbs milk slowly, which suits the long, gentle simmering of a traditional baked or stovetop rice pudding with sugar, vanilla, and nutmeg. Arborio and other short-grain rices can substitute, but true pudding rice gives the most authentically creamy result.