Japanese Rice — My Choice

Koshihikari short-grain Japanese rice made in California

Koshihikari is the Rolls-Royce of Japanese rice. It’s quite expensive. Come to think of it, I don’t think I’ve ever tasted real authentic Koshihikari. (I guess I should try at least once before I die.) This one pictured on the right is grown in California using the same strain of rice. I actually think that this might be better than the real Koshihikari. I would like to see some Kishihikari expert take a blind test with this. I grew up eating rice every day, so I certainly know good rice when I taste it, but I don’t think I could tell Koshihikari from the rest of high-quality Japanese rice.

Japanese rice is short-grain. You can’t really compare short-grain rice with long grain rice. Short grain rice is moist and sticky, and that’s what you want. Long grain rice is the opposite, and that’s exactly what you want in long grain rice. Not many cuisines use short grain rice.

For some reason, cheap rice seems to burst during cooking like what happens to hot dogs if you don’t slit the skin. Also cheap rice has dull surface; no shine. I’ve never tried this, but if you mix low and high quality rice 50/50, I would imagine that the difference would be quite obvious. I guess it’s a genetic difference.