Grains ── Rice varieties
Milky Queen
a low-amylose rice with extra-strong stickiness
Bred for low amylose content, said to be even stickier than Koshihikari and slow to firm up after cooling, said to suit onigiri and bento as well. Often blended in small proportions with Koshihikari and similar rice rather than cooked alone.
Lineage
What it's made of
Said to run extremely low in amylose, around 9.5 to 11.1 percent, giving it stickiness even beyond Koshihikari's. Glossy and soft when cooked, it's said to resist hardening as it cools, suiting onigiri and bento — though cooked alone it can turn too soft, so cutting the water by 10 to 20 percent is recommended. Beyond its glossy finish, biting into it is said to reveal a distinctively denser, more clinging texture than ordinary rice.
How it's made
Said to have been bred in 1985 when a predecessor of Japan's national agriculture research organization treated Koshihikari seed with the mutagen methylnitrosourea, selected a semi-glutinous mutant with heightened stickiness from the second generation, and carried it through cultivation to the tenth generation. Registered as a variety in 1998. This breeding method is known as mutation breeding, notable for using a chemical agent rather than radiation.
Why it took this shape
Its unusually low amylose is said to have arisen by chance through that mutation, and it's more often blended in small proportions into other rice to boost stickiness than cooked on its own. Said to be too sticky for porridge or sushi, it's also valued as a raw material for chilled rice products and rice crackers. In recent years it's also said to be used in hospital and elder-care meals, where a soft, easy-to-swallow rice is called for.
Before you go
- Foods to look for in autumnA guide to foods often seen in Japan around autumn — returning bonito, Pacific saury, new-crop rice, matsutake, chestnuts, and tsukimi dango — with rough pointers for finding them.
- Regional harvest food festivalsAcross Japan, harvest festivals and "taste festivals" featuring local produce and seafood are said to be commonly held each autumn, with stalls selling new rice, seasonal fruit, and local dishes.
Dishes in the same style
- AkamaiAn ancient category of rice said to carry a reddish bran layer; low-yielding but tied, it's said, to Shinto harvest rituals still kept at shrines like those on Tsushima. Traces of red rice are said to have been found at Jomon- and Yayoi-era sites, making it among Japan's oldest rice lineages.
- AkitakomachiA Koshihikari cross bred for Akita's cool climate, said to carry a lighter sweetness and moderate stickiness, long favored as an everyday table rice. Named, it's said, after the legendary beauty Ono no Komachi, it ranks among Japan's most widely planted varieties.
Ingredients and dishes from this land
Contrast
- SasanishikiPrized by sushi and washoku chefs for its light stickiness, said to have declined sharply in acreage after the severe cold-damage harvest of 1993. Recent shifts in cultivation technique are said to be bringing renewed interest in the variety.
- YumepirikaAmong Hokkaido rice, said to carry unusually strong stickiness and sweetness; its name blends 'yume' (dream) with the Ainu word for beautiful, and it's said to stay sticky even cooled. Said to have long held the top 'special A' taste rating, giving it wide recognition nationwide.