Bulk

Sorry for not writing on Tuesday, I came home exhausted and went to bed at 9 already.

I have just taken a step further towards my Japanification. For the first time ever, I bought a five kilo sack of rice, and I have to admit that I was even tempted to buy the big ten kilo sack, and I only refrained because I don’t have a proper spot to store that much. I feel very Japanese now, I am not even sure you can buy that much rice in a single package in Europe (other than in an Asia shop of course).

A bowl of white riceEven though Japan produces about 120% of its population’s consumption of rice, and even though rice farmers are heavily subsidized by the state, it is very expensive here. One kilo usually costs about 1000 yen, and that’s the bog standard Japanese rice you can get in any supermarket. That’s why I was tempted to buy the 10 kilo sack of newly harvested rice for only 4500 yen, but as I said, not enough storage space.

Interestingly, and something I didn’t know for a long time, even rice can go bad! Fresh rice has a very slight and sweet smell that is hard to describe – a little bit like milk. When it goes bad – only after a long, long time usually – it smells musty. I found this out in Korea, when I once tried to cook rice pudding and the milk curdled unexpectedly – even though I had just bought it on the same day. I hope that I’ll be able to finish all the rice before it goes bad – in the worst case, I can always eat it in hearty dishes like Bibimbap or Reisfleisch…

One thought on “Bulk”

  1. 1000 yen O.o
    And I thought rice here was expensive. O.o
    I go through a kilo per week, probably and always buy a cheap one at a local asia market in 3 kg bags. I am scared of getting bugs into larger ones.
    I also substitute short grain / round grain rice when I need sticky rice. Proper sushi rice is just way to expensive. >.>
    But don’t tell anyone. I might be barred from entering Japan for the sacrilege. 😉

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