I am a rice lover. I eat rice at least 4-5 times per week every week. I never ate a supermarket short grain rice that I liked. I discovered Uncle Ben's parboiled long grain rice decades ago, and it is pretty much the only rice I have eaten for several decades. The Uncle Ben's rice always turned out very good on the stove top so long as it prepared properly, but frankly, in my dotage I am tired of cooking rice on the stove top. More and more I have the urge to simplify whatever can be simplified well. I debated buying a quality rice cooker for several years only because they supposedly would not cook my Uncle Ben's rice properly. However, I wanted to branch out and try a lot more rices, so I finally invested in a quality rice cooker and began trying other rices.
Thus far I have prepared Jasmine rice, mixed brown rice, and Uncle Ben's in my rice cooker, and they all turned out great. Wish I had known years ago that the rice cooker WOULD cook Uncle Ben's rice just fine because I would have invested in a quality rice cooker years ago. Anyway, I heard that this brand of short grain sushi rice is wonderful, so not without some trepidation given the cost and my previous experience with short grain rice, I pulled the trigger and ordered a small bag of this rice.
I prepared my first two cups of this sushi rice today, and I can tell you a couple of things. Firstly, I now see that my quality rice cooker really IS optimised for sushi rice, and it cooked this sushi rice wonderfully. Taste and texture are excellent. No mushy rice here.
Secondly, this is not your ordinary supermarket short grain rice. This is much better. It is a bit sticker than Uncle Ben's parboiled long grain rice, but the texture is excellent. It did not get mushy or pasty. Each grain is distinct from the rest, and the taste is very good. I added a whole, ripe, fresh tomato to the cooker because I find it helps to give any rice a nice, subtle flavour dimension, adds just a touch of extra moisture, and it is healthy. I plan to try to make fried rice with some of this leftover sushi rice. I have a feeling it is going to make superb fried rice.
Now, some reviewers have made much of the fact that this is the same species of rice grown on Japan, but this rice is grown in California. I think the price of this rice is rather high for less than 4.5 lbs of rice, but I imagine this is probably the next best rice you can get outside of ordering from Japan, and you always pay extra for any commodity that is premium, high quality, high grade. The cost to order the Japanese cultivated rice would be exorbitant given the shipping cost, so this rice from California is the next best option. So, unless you are happy to pay the high cost of shipping from Japan, I think you should be very happy with this rice from California. Someone told me this rice has a very subtle sweetness to it, but it must be too subtle for my palate. Nonetheless, this is very nice rice.
Would I buy this rice again? Yes, I absolutely would buy it again but not very often given the way my food budget works. Would I buy this rice if I wanted to entertain someone for supper? Absolutely, I would want to serve the best rice possible to supper guests. For just myself, however, I will ration out the bag to last for a couple of months. I have plenty of other good rices to eat, too. I am very impressed with this rice, though.
I have not eaten many brands of short grain rice, but this is the best short grain rice I have ever eaten. I LOVE fried rice, so anytime I want fried rice, I will likely use this rice. For some reason, rice that is left over a day or two or three makes better fried rice, so I would prepare a couple of cups of this rice for a meal and save the leftover rice to use for fried rice a day or two later.
I am not a rice connoisseur by any stretch of the imagination, but as an ordinary person who truly loves rice and eats a lot of rice, I heartily recommend this rice. I cannot say how well it will cook on the stove top where so many things can go wrong, but in a quality rice cooker, this rice turns out perfectly. Recommended to all rice lovers.
As an aside, I want to add that is it really worth it to buy a quality rice cooker, too. So, if you have hesitated buying a really good rice cooker, I say hesitate no more. A quality rice cooker and premium rice will yield the best rice you have ever eaten, and you can cook so many types of rice so easily in a good rice cooker. I bought a small (5.5) cup capacity quality rice cooker, and I only prepare 2-3 cups at a time which is plenty for a meal for 2-3 people. Plus, the keep warm function means you can keep the rice warm for stragglers who come home late. The rice cooker also makes great steel cut oats, and I am told you can bake a cake in i. I have not made a cake in it yet, but I bet my rice cooker would do that well, too. Whether you spend $200 or $400 or even more on a quality rice cooker, it all evens out in the end if you eat a lot of rice. Quality rice cookers last 15-20 years. Life is short, so I say opt for a quality rice cooker and the best rice you can afford to buy, and enjoy!
ETA: Although the rice tastes quite good, I do want to add that the only sort of date code I could find on the package would seem to indicate the bag I bought is already 10 months old. I asked the seller about this, and all seller would say was that "rice is good for 2 years." Not really sure what to make of this because I am not sure what "New Crop" really means in terms of age.
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This Item  Shirakiku Dried Grains & Rice - Japanese Short Grain White Koshihikari Rice - Uncooked Premium Quality Sweet Sticky Sushi Rice, 4.4 Pounds bag |  | ![[100% Japan Grown] "Rare Find" SHIGA ICHIHARA PREMIUM Koshihikari Rice【Specially Cultivated & Limited Producer】Short Grain White Sushi Rice, Reduced Pesticides & Chemical Fertilizers - 5KG / 11 Pound](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/41ql28RUHgL._AC_.jpg) | ![[100% Grown in Japan, Niigata Prefecture] Premium Koshihikari Sushi Rice, Milled White Short Grain, 精米 新潟県産コシヒカリ - 11 Pound / 5 KG](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/412N1mF5CxL._AC_.jpg) | ![[100% Japan Grown] Specially Selected - Premium Koshihikari White Short Grain Sushi Rice From Minamiuonuma, Niigata 南魚沼産コシヒカリ - 4.4 Pounds](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51gIUAIQGmL._AC_.jpg) |  | |
| Price | $17.99 | $62.95 | $45.99 | $42.99 | $27.85 | -8% $11.99 Typical: $12.99 |
| Price Per Unit | $0.26 / Fl Oz | $0.89 / Ounce | $0.26 / Ounce | $0.24 / Ounce | $0.40 / Ounce | $0.25 / Fl Oz |
| Delivery | Get it as soon as Friday, May 3 | Get it as soon as Friday, May 3 | Get it as soon as Friday, May 3 | Get it as soon as Monday, May 6 | Get it as soon as Friday, May 3 | Get it as soon as Friday, May 3 |
| Customer Ratings | ||||||
| Flavor | ||||||
| Value for money | ||||||
| Sold By | SHIRAKIKU | 365 Trade | Orchard Hills | Orchard Hills | Orchard Hills | HytexINC |
| variety | White Rice | Sticky Rice | Rare | Koshihikari Short Grain | Koshihikari | — |
| form | Grain | Grain | Grain | Grain | Grain | Grain |
| ingredients | — | — | milled white rice | Milled White Rice | milled white rice | — |
Reviews with images
Good quality Sushi Rice
I love making nigiri, Maki rolls, hand rolls, Donburi bowls. And have sampled many Michelin starred sushi restaurants. I can’t compete with them, but I can produce sushi as good as less restaurant. I go into more detail in my cookbook, "Four Star Cooking for Friends". Cooked in a rice cooker, I’ve tried many, cheaper versions, and more expensive, imported from Japan, versions. Most of the cheaper, and other US grown were not as good. Some shouldn’t even use the phrase ‘Sushi Rice' as they didn’t have near enough stickiness for hand made nigiri. The imported Japanese versions were twice the price and barely discernible as better. And so, after a little research, I was pleasantly surprised to find this one which is now my goto sushi rice.New Crop not new crop? Sometimes I’ve received New Crop sometimes not, it doesn’t make that much difference. Happy with either.Looking expensive these days, but I’ll stick with it.
