Costco Rice Guide.

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Costco has basically 5 main rice outside of "regional small batch."


-Homai, Calrose
-Kokuho, Calrose

It's Calrose, Medium Sticky, you can use it for sushi, generally good eats, well balanced.


-Kirkland, Thai Jasmine

It's Jasmine, Medium-Low Sticky, starchier than Calrose, tougher, most people like this with an Oily Gravy to go on top.


-Royal, Basmati

This is basically India Jasmine, batch-to-batch often less sticky than Thai Jasmine, it's chalky more often than not, Gravy required.


-Kirkland, Long Grain

This is 'Murica rice, uncle Ben stuff, Non-Sticky, very chalky, tough, must eat these BUTTERED or Slathered with something gooey.

[tp4tissue]

Tp4,   what is the SECRET to great Sushi.


It's actually not rice.  If you have a competant rice cooker, the rice will never be too horrible. Avoid long grain if you can, but it won't destroyyyy sushrr.

The Pivotal secret to sushrrr rice is actually the rice sauce, vinegar + SUGAR.  You need ALOT of sugar to make sushrr rice.

TP4 You LIAAAR,  Sugar is the enemy, you LIES, LIESSS.


Look at a bottle of sushi vinegar, it doesn't ask you to dilute it,  You need bout 100-200ml each time, they come in 600-700ml bottles.

It's 5g of added sugar per serving, each bottle is about 40 servings,  there's 200g of sugar in that 1 bottle,

Go pour out 70g of sugar,    THAT IS THE SECRET to Sushrrrr..

It's 2-2.5x the amount of sugar in cococolo.

IN FACT,  if you pour cococolo in rice,  it basically tastes like sushr rice.

[fohat.digs]

5g of added sugar per serving,

That is reasonable, 5g is one level teaspoon - not really that much.

And if you use white table sugar in the US, it is probably beet sugar, or otherwise cane sugar. That is simple and natural, just avoid the dreaded "high-fructose corn" junk.
 

[tp4tissue]

5g of added sugar per serving,

That is reasonable, 5g is one level teaspoon - not really that much.

And if you use white table sugar in the US, it is probably beet sugar, or otherwise cane sugar. That is simple and natural, just avoid the dreaded "high-fructose corn" junk.
 

There's nothing more/less natural about beet/cane sugar vs high-fructose. They're all highly chemically derived.

The only standout is molasses, notice it's dark brown.

Anything that "resembles" food, is highly uniform or shiny and of pure color is typically some degree of technologically toxic.


If it weren't for QD-Oleds, Tp4 would go live in the woods.

The Tp4 grew up eating local tea-tree oil as the main-cooking-oil, it was the seeds put in woven biscuits smashed in a gravity swing, the oil is cloudy and doesn't look like anything that's sold in stores.  This is true of all plant oils after pressing.

[tp4tissue]

Koshikihari vs Calrose.

These are the primary 2 jap rice strains grown in the US.


There are no pure-bred rice, they're all mutts developed over time to adjust to regional growing conditions/chemicals/disease/weather.

One rice is not inherently better than another.

The reason the jap strain is used for sushi and riceballs is that it has a balance of Amylose/Amylopectin around 20%/80% + a puffy shape,  This gives it enough structure for separation and enough stickiness to clump.

The end texture is a soft jelly bean like pillow, which match the "preference" of most rice eaters "Today."

That said, preferences are also merely FASHIONABLE, doesn't make it great or the best in any way, today blue, tomorrow green.


Close Koshi derivatives sold as Koshi is often either a mixed bag doped with other rice, or all Kosh. Brands like Tamaki Gold represents the premium rice. The price reflects partially the lower yields and higher risk of cultivation (failures).

Calrose is more robust, which is why it's 80% of what california grows. 

Visually, Koshi is a shorter more roundish grain than Calrose.


Is it worth the extra money, mechanically, HELL NO.

The difference in amy/amylopec starch distribution is within 1-3 percent.  So, the amount of water added will make whatever target consistency you're looking for.


But food isn't only about the science, food is also about FEELINGS.  Sometimes you wear a nice shirt and one feels better about oneself.

That is where all the so-called magic happens.


But if you're just out to pound rice generally, what slight difference there is in texture and smell of the rice is way overpowered by the home made General_Tso,   so this is where you might stick to Calrose.


Rice grades/ Quality

The best batches have 5% broken grains.  The good is 10-15%,  then there's the rest.

It'll all pretty much taste the same, slight texture difference is usually that broken grains leak more starches during cooking, leading to a potential sheen/tacky goop around the rice.  A very minor difference in practice, unless you're PRO RICER and eat rice plain by itself while evaluating its perturbed origins and specification.

But you can sometimes find un-adorned alt-brand sushi rice bags that is Koshi, with slightly more broken grains, but not overpriced like the marked up tamakigold.

Sidenote: There's also the Kimjohn's lvl where his slaves inspect every grain of rice he eats, more so for poison, than rice texture.