Japanese rice

[ayladakora]

When I go into a store here in the US.. what kind of rice am i to look for when i need Japanese rice?

[DangerousBlackcat16]

Long grain rice, its hard to and its not usually sold in regular stores so if theres an oriental store somewhere near u im sure they have it

[ayladakora]

But what name am I looking for. I know that there is a specific brand or two.. but I do not know what to get. I always thought Jasmine was the type to get, but i found that is not the correct type.

[Nagoyankee]

Originally Posted by DangerousBlackcat16

Long grain rice, its hard to and its not usually sold in regular stores so if theres an oriental store somewhere near u im sure they have it

LOL It's short grain all the way!!

[DangerousBlackcat16]

oh O.O my bad....that guy on Good Eats lied to me =.=

[okiron]

Originally Posted by DangerousBlackcat16

Long grain rice, its hard to and its not usually sold in regular stores so if theres an oriental store somewhere near u im sure they have it

The only time I eat long grain rice is when we're at a Chinese restaurant lol.

[yuujirou]

haha....long grain rice isn't...really...what would be considered 'oriental'....
i feel long grain usually belongs too american and middle eastern cultures >.>''
for chinese and japanese cuisine though~ med and short grains are preferred (though...wonder about jasmine rice... ._.')

as for what kinda brand too look fer
if you wanna do sushi~ buy 'sushi' rice from 'california'
>.>''

everything else....
i believe my family uses jasmine rice typically for meals >.>''

[Wasabista]

Yes, SHORT grain rice. If you can find the Japanese brand name Koshihikari or Hitomebore you're very lucky (I think they don't permit export?).

[Sangetsu]

Enjoy your American rice. Most Japanese would love to get it if they could, but importing rice into Japan is illegal. The rice here is no better than what you get in America (some would argue that it isn't as good), and rice here costs between 5 and 10 times as much.

[Nyororin]

Originally Posted by Sangetsu

Enjoy your American rice. Most Japanese would love to get it if they could, but importing rice into Japan is illegal. The rice here is no better than what you get in America (some would argue that it isn't as good), and rice here costs between 5 and 10 times as much.

I don`t know what kind of rice you`re eating in Japan, but I`ve never had any American "Japanese" rice that didn`t taste like complete and total crap. (What is that weird soapy flavor all of it has? No matter how much I wash it, it tastes like someone squeezed detergent into it.) I`ve tried quite a few different brands, all while in the US - even the expensive ones - and they all seem to have a nasty after taste or be either gushy or hardened starchy. The only time I`ve had something like that in Japan was when we ran out of rice and picked up the absolute cheapest little bag of last year`s rice that had been imported from Vietnam.

I do agree that the price of rice in Japan is artificially inflated, but there is no way I can believe the rice in the US is near the quality of the average rice here - or at least the type we eat. It may be the rice itself, or more likely a difference in processing... But that is in fact my experience.

As for the legality of rice imports - It was legal for a while, until the US violated international laws by including illegal GM rice in supposedly non-GM shipments. Now it`s not actually illegal, and you can find California rice fairly easily - but being as Japan insists on testing it very thoroughly for GM (which they seem to find at a rate high enough to make the process necessary) by the time it hits the market it is old and tastes like crap... Which isn`t convincing anyone to switch over.