‘Rice Meister’ Shares Tips on How to Cook Tasty Stockpiled Rice; Soaking, Adding Sake Among Tricks to Restore Old Rice

The Yomiuri Shimbun

16:14 JST, May 27, 2025

With stockpiled rice harvested between 2021 and 2022 reaching supermarket shelves, a rice expert has provided tips on improving the flavor and quality of the years-old grain.

“You need a bit of twist to make it taste better,” said Shinichi Nishikawa, 59, a rice retailer in Hirano Ward, Osaka.

Nishikawa holds a qualification called “five-star rice meister,” which is like a PhD among those who have professional experience with rice. He said that old rice has a lower water content than new rice, making it less shiny and not as sticky when steamed.

When steaming in a rice cooker, a teaspoon of sake, cooking sake or mirin sweet sake per cup of rice can give the grain a glistening shine and make it less crumbly, he said. In summer, rice is usually soaked in water for about 30 minutes before steaming. However, for old rice, soaking for about one hour will improve its texture even more, he said.

“Old rice is good in dishes like chirashizushi (an assortment of sashimi and other toppings on vinegared rice), donburi rice bowl, curry rice and stir-fried rice,” he said.