Tamanishiki Super Premium Short Grain Rice, 15-Pound

This rice is the best white rice I've ever tried. It has become the standard to which I compare all other white rices. I was never too into rice as a kid or teen. I thought that I simply didn't like rice. Then, I got into Japanese culture and saw how healthy they eat in comparison to Americans. So, I figured I'd start eating more rice. At first, it was hard because, as said, I didn't like American rice. I gave up until I did some research and found Nishiki and Sekka. They were delicious! But then, I started going to traditional Japanese restaurants, and was introduced to short grain white rice, which even blew the fantastic Nishiki and Sekka out of the water. That's when things really took off for me. I did my research and learned about Tamanishiki. After purchasing a rice cooker, I gave this rice a try, and haven't looked back since. There are definitely some pros and cons with Tamanishiki rice: Pros: - It's delicious. Comes out perfect every time with each of my 3 rice cookers. (The Takeru-kun portable lunch jar, an Aroma rice cooker, and a Panasonic) - Goes perfect with anything - The flavor complements any fish, meat, vegetable... It's just great Cons: - Once you eat this rice, you won't want to go back to whatever rice you've been eating. It's that good. I brought some to the office once for my coworkers, and they were hooked. One literally came back to me the next day telling me she'd pay me for some more of my rice and pay me to pick up more for her next time I went to Mitsuwa. She literally told me she didn't want to go back to her other rice. My whole family has experienced the same thing. We have a 10-pound bag of rice we had purchased before I brought in the Tamanishiki (over a year ago) and that other bag is still sitting there, unopened. - This rice is great, but it runs $2 per pound. Once you try this, it is so good you can say goodbye to the price you were paying for your rice As you can tell, I highly recommend this rice. And, the better your rice cooker, the better it tastes.

When I started making sushi at home, it was difficult to get the rice to be as good as at my favorite sushi-ya. The flavor was not as good and was very inconsistent (mushy, sticky, etc). I knew that many sushi chefs spend years just learning to make good sushi rice, so I figured my rice would never be as good as theirs - no matter how hard I tried. But, I hoped to eventually make rice that was edible and close to what I could find at a restaurant. So, I got a $400 Zojirushi rice cooker (this fixed the consistency issue) and tried many different brands of premium sushi rice. So far, I like this rice the best. I rinse the rice some (although it doesn't need much rinsing), I am careful to measure the exact amount of rice & water, I add a little salt to the rice & cooking water although this may be frowned upon by traditionalists, and I sometimes add a few squares of Kombu. I have been working on the vinegar/sugar solution for my tastes. Now, I can honestly say that my rice is noticeably better in flavor than almost all sushi restaurants that I go to. This rice is flavorful and has a great firm texture (nice individual grains for nigiri). I wish it was organic (I am trying to reduce my GMO/herbicide/pesticide intake), but I think this is great rice. I also tried their Yuma and Nozomi but I think I liked this one the best (the Nozomi was close). Since the Japanese don't really allow their good rice to be exported (they are also anti-GMO), it is very difficult to find real Japanese rice here in the US. I believe this is one of the best sushi rices made in the US.

**UPDATE: I've been buying this rice from Amazon (subscribe and save) for the past year and have never encountered a problem with the rice. It has remain relatively constant in its quality during this time. Highly recommend this rice. ** I was at my wits end trying to find super premium rice in my area. My favorite Korean market recently closed down; the Chinese store I'd been to in the past was out of ANY premium short grain rice; another tried to tell me their medium grain rice was short grain (nope, it says on the package MEDIUM, not going to work), so I relented and went to Amazon to look for rice. In the past, I've bought Tamaki Gold at the Korean market and even (once) on Amazon but the size changed from 15 lbs to 5 pounds at the same price (on Amazon). Sorry, not going to pay $30 for 5 lbs of rice! Not even if it's THAT good. I'd tried Yume super premium short grain rice, purchased at my local Chinese store, but I didn't really like it that well. Wasn't as sticky and chewy as Tamaki Gold and definitely didn't seem 'super' premium. The only other option, for me, was to try this Tamanishiki Super Premium Rice. I saw the few not so glowing reviews, but knew that I had to have rice and it was my only option. With confidence, I ordered. This rice is good! It's better than good, it's great! It's been so long since I had the Tamaki Gold, so I can't compare but it's definitely as good as, if not better than. I ordered mine from Amazon and the rice is perfect - not old, not yellow and it holds moisture. Definitely recommend this rice if you like/want sticky, chewy rice. Excellent!

I would give it stars but not from a pragmatic aspect of cost and utility. It is a very nice rice but it is too expensive to notice the difference if you are properly cooking your rice in most cases. It also seems to be milled to a much greater degree which has its pros and cons, pros being better flavor and greater consistency when cooked properly but cons are you need to be MUCH more precise when cooking and the water used has a much greater impact on flavor.