Price of rice in Japan falls below ¥4k per 5kg

Japanese rice variety I think is called Japonica. I'm not sure if costco sells it.

haven't seen japonica often in the US, but jasmine rice is similar and available pretty much everywhere.

in fact, jasmine rice smells and tastes better, and stickier!

maybe I mis-understood what you meant by similar here but jasmine rice is nothing at all like japanese rice.

Jasmine top, Japanese bottom

https://postimg.cc/6y2b0JdB

They have a completely different consistency when cooked and are used for different things.

yes in fact, it is. relative to american rice.

it's has a similar stickiness, the taste is a bit different, but better imo.

it pairs well with asian dishes as opposed to american rices and can be used for sushi.

it's not 1:1, but it's certainly a good substitute when you can find japanese rice.

Calrose, the primary rice grown in California is a Japonica, its just Japanese rice grown in America. Tamanishiki, which is one of the high grade sushi rices is grown in the US and Japan

It is O. s. subsp. japonica

Jasmine rice can NOT be used for sushi! It's not sticky enough to hold together. The fact that it's not sticky makes it good for fried rice, not for sushi.

hmm, well the jasmine I buy is extra sticky.

maybe it's how it turns out in the rice cooker.

either way, I've done it and it tastes good /shrug

Costco sells a couple of Kokuho-brand Calrose varieties, which are decent drop-ins for for generic East Asian rice.

> Calrose, the primary rice grown in California

Surprising, because while its widely available in California it seems to be a tiny minority of available rice. A search I did says it is 80% of California's crop, so presumably a lot of it is exported?

It doesn't serve every culinary purpose and most California grocery shoppers are not Japanese. You wouldn't make Moros y Cristianos with it. You wouldn't make Hoppin' John with it. It's no good for your Indian menu. It isn't really what you'd serve beside fried chicken.

There is no "best rice" any more than there is "best pants".

If your jasmine rice is turning out sticky you’re cooking it wrong.

Good to know, however I always buy short grain brown rice, I like that one better.

In my experience it's just barely sticky enough for sushi provided you don't wash it but I don't think the texture is right for that usage. I prefer it for most things though.

might be confusing mushy with sticky - the individual grains of sushi rice is intact and whole. Mushy rice is a grain that has too absorbed too much water, and is burst.