Wakai Noen Japanese 5-Star Master Rice
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Variety: Milky Queen — a low-amylose, short-grain Japanese rice known for softness, gloss and a slight sweetness.
Milky Queen is one of Japan's prized short-grain varieties — a low-amylose rice bred from Koshihikari, which is what gives it its character: soft, glossy and notably sticky, with a gentle natural sweetness and a fine fragrance. Its low amylose also means it stays tender as it cools rather than turning hard and dry, which is why it's so well suited to sushi, onigiri and bento as well as the dinner table.
Rinse until the water runs clear, then cook with a little less water than usual — this variety holds moisture, so around an equal measure of rice to water works well. Rest it briefly off the heat before serving. Beautiful simply as a bowl of plain rice alongside Japanese dishes, and equally at home under sashimi, rolled for sushi, pressed into onigiri or built into a donburi.
Producer Wakai Noen farms in the Kagami area of Ryūō, in Shiga Prefecture, beside Lake Biwa, on land fed by pure mountain spring water. Yasunori Wakai is the sixteenth generation of his family to grow rice here, a line reaching back to 1613, working around thirty-two hectares. He holds the Five-Star Rice Master grade, the highest rank in Japan, and his rice is certified organic, grown without pesticides.
Net: 1.8kg
