Do you know what Sushi Rice is?

Sushi has become a staple on the grab-and-go food shelves in recent years. You may see Sushi kiosks in the local supermarket or convenience store, allowing you to buy a box of freshly made Sushi for lunch or a platter for home parties.??

And if you feel like treating yourself, there are high-end Sushi restaurants where you not only feast on the delicate flavours but also enjoy watching the chefs making each jewel-like morsel of yumminess with such dexterity.

One might still think that Sushi is about raw fish, and maybe with some vegetable variations.??

But that’s not necessarily the case.

Any dish can be called Sushi if it incorporates rice flavoured with Sushi vinegar.?

It has something to do with how Sushi originally started.

I won’t dive too deeply into the fascinating, detailed history of Sushi today as you can always Google it, and the truth is, I’ll be here for hours. However, in a nutshell, the origin of Sushi was the method of preserving fish by fermenting it with rice.

During the process, the carbohydrate turns into sugar and then acid. When the fish was fermented enough, the rice became slurry, so it was discarded.?

It was a very “posh” piece of food only served to the most privileged.?

Over time, folks thought throwing away the rice was wasteful, so the cooking process changed.?

Instead, the rice was boiled separately, flavoured with vinegar and became the essential part of what’s known today as Sushi.

Now, whatever accompanies this vinegared rice is up to your imagination.??

Nowadays, you would know that there are two types of Sushi: Nigiri and Maki, or rolls.

Nigiri means to hold something in the hand.? So Nigiri Sushi is a small rice ball made in the hand with topping added.? Typical toppings in Europe are salmon or tuna.

But it can be scallop, eel, omelette, etc.?

The most common Maki sushi is Ura-Maki, or Inside Out Roll, often called here? California roll.? As opposed to the traditional rolls, which have Nori, the black seaweed sheet, on the outside, Ura-maki has Nori and filling inside. The outer rice layer is decorated with sesame, fish egg, thinly sliced avocado or fish layers.? Hence the name “Inside-out roll”.

But in Japan, the variation goes far more than this.

Some Sushi does not take any shape as such. ? Chirashi-zushi is a typical one.? Various regional and seasonal vegetables and sometimes raw and sometimes cooked fish are all mixed into or laid on the vinegared rice.? Different regions would have their variations.? Perhaps each household would have the “Grand-ma’s recipe”, just like the Italian families having their tomato pasta sauce recipe.

?Japan is a country of rituals and events.? There is something to celebrate or hold the rituals nearly every month.

Sushi is always part of these occasions, too.?

In early February, there is a day, Setsubun 節分.? This is when we cleanse ourselves of bad luck and bring in good luck. ? A ginormous Maki-sushi, called Ehou-maki, is made using seven different kinds of fillings (because there are seven gods and goddesses), and you eat it as a long roll, facing the direction that is believed to be auspicious in that particular year.?

Yes, the sale of sushi jumps up every year on this date.

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Poke is one variation that has become very popular too.? The original concept is of course comes from Japan.? There is a type of sushi called “Kaisen don.”

Kaisen means fruit of the sea, and don means rice bowl.? So it is a portion of vinegared rice at the bottom, topped with a selection of seafood.

When the Japanese who immigrated to Hawai at the back of 19th century, they started to create the Hawaian version of Kaisen don, using the local fish.? This is Poke.? The authentic Poke uses raw fish diced or finely chopped and the spice and/or sauce is mixed in.?

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What’s common between the different dishes is that they all use vinegar-flavoured rice.???

And let me tell you something: the Japanese are very fussy about rice.

If the rice is not good, then the Sushi is not good!

Using flavoursome fillings or toppings to go with the rice is a given.?

The question is the rice.?

This likely goes back more than a decade ago when we started to see a bag of rice being sold with the big print saying “Sushi Rice”.?

It’s terminology that grain merchants outside of Japan created to indicate it’s a type of rice suitable for making rice.

Any rice that one would see in shops in Japan is “Sushi Rice”.

You don’t see Basmati rice and Arborio rice being sold so often over there.

So, back to sushi rice.

If you are an avid Sushi lover and make your own Sushi, or if you work in the Sushi business and have been keeping a sharp eye on the type of Sushi rice available in the market, you probably have noticed that there are different types of “Sushi rice”. I know I have.

You’ve likely also noticed that different brands would cook up with slightly different textures and flavours.

These days, you may come across Sushi rice imported from Japan. And there, you see different brand names, such as Koshihikari, Sasanishiki, and so forth.?

The business of rice gets rather complicated and confusing.?

But that’s what makes it so interesting!?

Over the next few weeks, I’m going to be sharing more on sushi rice in my “ultimate guidebook,” and I’d love for you to join me.?

Check back to my LinkedIn profile for the very latest and don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any questions.

I’ll see you back here at the same time, same place next week for more sushi rice goodness!

I’m Kiyoko Hay, Commercial Director at Sushi-Robots, Europe's leading sushi machine manufacturer. Find out more about our Nigiri machines, Maki machines, Gyoza machines, and Ramen machines on our website at sushi-robots.eu.?