I’ve never noticed the difference in flavor, but that’s because I’m usually making it as some kind of stir fry dish, so the natural flavors are hidden.
I had not heard of Kokuho - is it under the umbrella of Calrose (which I also had not heard of until I started making sushi rice at home)?
My default is indian basmati. I bought some jasmine to mix it up (and for asian applications), but I didn’t enjoy it enough to restock. I also have calrose for sushi-related preparations.
Of late I’ve been mixing grains - half quinoa, half basmati. More filling, smaller portion consumed.
I also read somewhere that cooking rice with fat and eating it after it’s sat in the fridge for a while cuts the glycemic load by half, so now I add butter or oil or ghee and cook more, then reheat as needed.
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Yes, broadly speaking. All the Kokuho varietals are medium-grained “Calrose” types. There are several varieties, all originally developed by Koda Farms iirc, but they themselves only grow the Heirloom Varietal on their own “home” farm, and that’s not easy to come by here on East Coast (and it’s relatively expensive wherever it is available). The other varietals have always been grown by other farms in various places in California, but at this point, I’m not sure Koda Farms even owns the rights to the generic Kokuho name any more. (Or maybe they’ve just licensed it to Nomura?) But there are two others sold under thename that are widely available pretty much everywhere: a “regular” Kokoho (aka Kokuho Yellow, after the yellow-bannered bags its packaged in) and the supposedly superior Kokuho Rose (not named for, but sold in, bags with a distinctive pink banner).
As for the business about chilling rice to lower its glycemic index, I don’t think the fat is actually necessary to the process but yes, chilling cooked rice (permanently) “retrogrades” much of the starch making it differently-digestible than in its original cooked state. (Fwiw, I think I also remember reading that the retrograded starch encourages beneficial gut flora, but I’m very hazy on that. And fwiw, I think the retrograding business is true for potatoes, too (or maybe just some varieties of potato), but I won’t swear to that either.)
Pls visit for elucidation
http://www.kodafarms.com
Note , the Kokuho Rose® distributed by our trademark licensee, Nomura and Co. is a similar type of rice with our original KR55 strain in its genetic makeup. It is not the pure heirloom strain grown exclusively on Koda Farms. Our original heirloom Kokuho Rose is distinguished by the prominent placement of our Koda Farms house logo (see our “header” which appears at the top of this page) on all packaging.
While KR55 and Calrose do share a common ancestor, saying that KR55, aka Kokuho Rose®, is a Calrose variety *is like saying that a thoroughbred race horse and a donkey are the same thing.
I have been using kokuho rice, rose variety for the past 15 years or so. In my humble opinion, It is superior to the others, ( jasmine, basmati) , even the yellow variety. It is reasonable , 15 pounds for about 29.99 at Asian stores, and currently, even at Costco.
It is not good for fried rice as it is medium grain, a little bit sticky. I typically cook 6 cups in my rice cooker, refrigerate left over in individually packaged films, then pop it in the microwave for about a minute or two. It comes out as though it is freshly cooked.
in a study, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26693746/
conclusion is that cooling of cooked white rice increased resistant starch content. Cooked white rice cooled for 24 hours at 4°C then reheated lowered glycemic response compared with freshly cooked white rice.
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That basically confirms my understanding of the different “Kokuho” rices. It’s unfortunate from the consumer perspective (but not surprising from the marketing perspective) that the “mainstream” “Kokuho Rose” has the same (base) name as the Heirloom Varietal; I’ve seen a lot of confusion in forum and blog posts on the Web among people who apparently don’t realize or understand that there’s a significant difference between the plain-old “Kokuho Rose” label and the packaging with the more specific phrase “Heirloom Varietal” as well.
In terms of price and availability, when you mentioned buying and eating “Kokuho Rose” rice yourself, did you mean the Heirloom Varietal actually grown by Koda (what they call “KRSS” in the blurb you quoted), or the “regular” Kokuho Rose distributed by Nomura? The latter is widely available nationwide, but the former isn’t very widely available outside California/the West Coast - at any price - and it’s quite expensive to have it shipped anywhere by the few online retailers that do sell it…
This is what I was referring to wrt fat addition:
And the bit about cooling:
Though I didn’t know until recently that parboiled rice (which has been available for a long time) also has a lower glycemic index (though you can’t choose the variety you like best in that case).
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For people with digestive issues like IBS, Crohn’s, reflux - increasing the resistant starch can worsen symptoms. Just a heads up for anyone who might do this on the regular.
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Yes. Also if you have issues with fiber, gas, etc.
This is more for those of us who like rice but not so much the carbiness of it (ie 
)
Interesting. I was aware of the retrograded/resistant starch result of chilling cooked rice, but hadn’t come across this info about the impact of fat on its digestion/absorption. Though I guess it’s really not surprising when consider the relatively slow digestion/absorption of fats in general.
I have always been using Kokuho Rice by Nomura , with the emblem for the last 15-20 years. I find that great for my Chinese dishes as well as others except for paella, fried rice. I seldom cook risotto although I have stock those rice as well. The other Nomura product I use is their glutinous rice for dessert ( Filipino Biko with coconut) or I use it during thanksgiving as stuffing to make my modified Lo May Gai, ( glutinous rice steamed with mushrooms, sausage, dried shrimp , tiger lily bud to wh ice I add filipino style chicken and pork adobo) as stuffing since my husband was a celiac ( gluten enteropathy)
As for the Kokuho yellow, I find that inferior to the rose. I have only tried that once.
I understand you may want the best but the KRSS is too expensive for me to try. I do not like to use any rice for paella other than the bomba variety as I can tell the difference. However, I do not cook paella as often as I cook rice, so the extra expense for the bomba makes sense to me
I hope this clarifies matter for you.
I’d like to try the KRSS at least once, but so far, not enough to bring myself to pay what it would cost to buy it online and have it shipped. And even at “California local” prices, it would be rather expensive to use on a regular basis. But then I’m not huge fan of medium-grain rice in general. I do like it with some dishes, but for the most part I prefer long-grain rices anyway so it’s not one of the food-related things I tend to obsess over…
Anyone try all the varieties of CA rice? I’m a little curious on the Calhikari-201 varient
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I don’t eat white rice but if you adjust for time, the “pasta method” I learned for brown rice might work for you. Bring a big pot of salted (I don’t salt) water to a rolling boil, dump in the rice, stir a couple of times, then let boil uncovered for ten minutes less than the package instructions. Dump the pot through a sieve, flip the sieve over and knock the rice back into the hot, empy pot. Cover immediately, and let sit off heat for 10-15 minutes. The grains are tender and separate.
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I think finding most of those “developmental/experimental”-type varieties for sale - labeled by variety - would be difficult outside of California, and probably even within CA but far from where they’re grown. I suspect that not all growers of them would want to publicly identified, but UC/Davis might be able to give you the names and contact info of some that are?
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Oh I’m around the bay area and have easy access to Davis/Sacramento region haha. I really should ask the UC Davis team.
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And then tell me!
Ha will do.
Though I did just buy a bag of Kokuho Rose from a Japanese grocery store. https://www.kodafarms.com/our-branded-products/
Seemed like a nice medium grain rice, never realized there is an heirloom variety of it.
It is pricey but worth it.
On the other hand, you can buy the red kokuho rice red ( do not buy the yellow one ) but if you have Costco membership, they now sell the 25 lb bag cheaper than the Asian store. It cost
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Costco’s red kokuho rice cost 23.99 which is cheaper than the asian stores.
I use my aroma rice cooker and use their measuring cup provided the advise is to use the lines etched on the interior of the cooker for water. In other words, if 6 cups is used ( the cup is different in size than an American measuring cup), use water to the 6 line. I cook rice once a week, wrap left overs in individual portion using Costco’s stretch -tite, then when I need rice, just pop the individual portions in microwave for 1 minute or 2. It comes out perfectly steamed as though it is newly cooked. Yesterday, the family of a Chinese Restaurant owner in Rockville came to visit. I cooked abalone with mushroom and bok choy as one of my main course. To my surprise, they commented that the rice is excellent.
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Huh, I’m just curious if the one I bought is from the same place. I didn’t see red or yellow bag, mainly the guy’s face.
It was pretty much that bag, per the store it was this year’s new crop.
And yeah, I’m definitely following the instructions of my rice cooker. Sprung for a Zojirushi induction heating one and its working well so far (it better…)
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