Nohju Japanese Rice uses delicious Kyoto Koshihikari rice in their ready-to-eat package, enjoy them with your favorite Japanese dishes.
How many of you have been to Japan and have had a chance to taste the shiny, fluffy, slightly sweet Japanese rice? For Japanese cuisine, rice is actually considered the “main dish” (主食 shushoku). We take the flavor, texture, fragrance, and all the characters you can think of about rice seriously.
Today I’m want to share a particular Japanese brand of ready-to-go rice – Nohju (農樹). Their rice came all the way from Kyoto, Japan and now it’s available for us on the American table. And the unique part is that the rice is already cooked and ready-to-eat in 2 minutes! Is it possible to have a convenient rice pack and still taste delicious? Keep on reading. 🙂
Nohju 農樹 Japanese Rice – Father & Son Business
Nohju (農樹) is a Japanese company from Kyoto and it’s a father-and-son business. Their success story to make Kyoto Koshihikari (京都コシヒカリ) is very inspiring to me.
What make this company so special and unique from the other rice companies? This father-son team is fully involved in creating the product every step of the way, from rice cultivation to products to sales. They don’t just run the business, but they are also rice farmers themselves!
Nohju’s rice can be found in Japan’s finest department stores, including Mitsukoshi (三越) and Isetan (伊勢丹). You can also find their rice in some Asian countries including Taiwan, Singapore, and Hong Kong.
Nohju’s Ready to Eat Cooked Japanese Rice
We now can enjoy Nohju’s finest Kyoto Koshihikari in ready-to-eat packages!
You may not be familiar with this type of rice packages, but in Japan, these “instant rice” packages have been around for decades. Many people stock up these rice packages as an emergency food supply.
So what’s different and special about Nohju’s Ready To Eat Cooked Rice?
Quality of Japanese Rice
Nohju’s Ready-to-Eat Cooked Rice uses 100% fresh high-quality Kyoto Koshihikari rice harvested during that year. They want to pack only good quality fresh rice for even ready-to-eat cooked rice.
To be honest with you guys, Nohju’s rice really surprised and impressed me and I wasn’t expecting this rice to be so good, especially coming from the package. If this rice was served in a regular rice bowl, not in this packaged container, I wouldn’t even notice that the rice was already cooked and packed in Japan!
Taste
Nohju Koshihikari has a really nice shine to it which you often see with Japanese rice grown in Japan. I rarely see this beautiful luster on California grown Japanese rice. The rice also has slightly sweet flavor and it’s sort of milky (not that milk is in it). It’s quite fluffy and soft, and the gentle and subtle flavors spread in the mouth as you chew.
Why Ready To Eat Cooked Rice?
Now that you know how delicious this rice is, let’s talk about WHY this Ready-to-Eat cooked rice is convenient.
- You’re too busy to wash and cook rice (not to mention clean up the pot).
- You often forget to cook rice when you already have some leftover (main) foods.
- You don’t want to buy a big bag of Japanese rice for occasional Japanese meals at home.
- You’re going on a camping trip this summer and need to prepare rice.
- You always wanted to try Japanese rice from Japan, especially after I mentioned how good rice from Japan is… 😉
How To Prepare Ready To Eat Cooked Rice
There are 2 ways to prepare Nohju’s Ready-To-Eat Cooked Rice: microwave or stove-top boiling method.
Microwave Method: By far, it’s the quickest and most convenient method, as long as you have the microwave at your home or office.
Step 1: Open the corner of the package.
Step 2: Heat Up in your microwave (500-600W) for 2 minutes.
Boiling Method: If you are at a campground or don’t have a microwave at home, you can just heat up the whole package in boiling water for 14 minutes. Don’t open the package until it’s done heating up.
When it’s done cooking, open the package…
Tada! Fluff up the rice with a slightly wet spoon (so rice won’t stick), and it’s ready to eat!
I served the rice with Salted Salmon, Tamagoyaki, and Spinach Gomaae.
Where To Get Nohju Ready to Eat Cooked Rice?
You can purchase Nohju rice at selective locations of 99 Ranch Market, Pacific Supermarket, and Safeway. You can also purchase at the following website.
Giveaway!
UPDATE: The giveaway was so popular and Nohju received 100 entries in just 30 minutes. They are now giving away another 100 packs (200 total)!
Now the best part, I’m partnering with Nohju to give away 100 packages of Ready to Eat Cooked Rice. Each package includes 3 pack of rice (can prepare 3 bowls of rice).
Due to this product being only available in the U.S., this contest is open to only U.S. residents (including Hawaii and Alaska).
First 200 people will receive one package of Nohju Cooked Rice (3 packs of rice). The contest will be closed as soon as they receive 200 entries with the following criteria. Entries that did not include the following information will not be included for this contest.
HOW TO ENTER (Please read carefully!):
Send nohjukyoto@gmail.com an emailType Instant Rice in subject line.In the email, write:Your Full NameYour AddressPick ONE of the following questions and write your answer.
How do you purchase your rice? At the grocery store or online shopping?Which brand of rice do you currently enjoy?How big (lb. or kg) is your bag of rice?How often do you eat rice?
Good luck!
Full Disclosure: This giveaway is sponsored by Nohju.
Looks so nice concept!
And delicious.
I had no idea this existed! Really interesting — perfect for an emergency. Or for people who find cooking rice a challenge. Fun stuff — thanks.
I wish I could taste real Japanese rice but I’m not surprised at how popular the giveaway was. Still, the California grown sushi rice I’ve had is pretty tasty too.
This really is a cool giveaway. Thank you for the opportunity! I’m going to be studying abroad in Kagoshima soon, so I hope to be able to have plenty of Japan grown rice there.
Hi Joshua! Wow, that’s wonderful! I hope you have a great stay in Kagoshima! 🙂
Hi Nami
If you want rice that is like Japanese rice try “Yuki No Kakera” that is carried by Marukai.It is expensive and it is a American grown rice.It is $29 for a 15 Lb bag.The grain is short but it is a cross between sweet rice and regular rice. It is fluffy even when it cools,.the only down side is the price.
Aloha
Aloha! Yeah I’ve tried that brand of rice before (I can buy at Nijiya too). Californian grown rice is still not comparable to the rice we eat in Japan. It’s hard to explain (as I don’t want everyone to get confused about the “nationalistic pride” I mentioned above comment)… But I have to say the Californian Japanese rice has improved SO MUCH since I first came to the US. And these newer brands are far better than ” —— Rose” or “N——” brand etc. 🙂
Wow! This giveaway is so big and exciting! I very much appreciate the opportunity.
Thanks Madison! I saw your name in the email. Thank you for entering, and you’ll receive the rice. 🙂
You know when I moved to Niigata to teach English, my mom (from Okinawa) told me I would notice a big difference in the taste of the rice. When we spoke on the phone, she often asked more questions about the rice than me!!! 🙂 No but really, I didn’t get it until I had Niigata rice and I was like omg–what is that California Kokuho stuff I’ve been eating all along? Bleh. Now I can’t got back and I budget a little more for Japanese rice! And before I used to think it was just a nationalistic pride thang. Nope.
Oh yes! My dad is from Niigata too, so I grew up in a family who really cares about the quality of rice. Every year we get fresh rice from a relative in Niigata and we really admire the quality of rice.
Haha, when I was writing this post, I was afraid people think that I’m talking about rice as a nationalistic pride. But I really mean the rice is so delicious and we truly care about the rice… 🙂
I love the rice from Nohju Kyoto and I had to introduce their rice to my American readers (that they can now purchase and taste rice from Japan!) and give away some so they can actually try!
Your dad is from Niigata?! Now I understand your love for rice even more 🙂 I actually lived in Sado ga shima (Niigata-ken), in the middle of a quaint rice growing village. My apartment was surrounded by rice! So I saw first hand the love that went into the planting, harvest, and eating for rice. In fact, my students were often scolded if they wasted food (motainai!) but especially rice. That was nearly sacrilegious. Do you know Ehmiko Ohnuki Tierney’s book “Rice as Self”? It’s a good book that explains the powerful symbolism of rice in Japan. You would love it!
My dad was especially picky about the rice. Well, if you grow up eating really good rice, I understand the standard is already very high… Like fisherman’s children must be very picky about fresh seafood, etc. 😉
Wow you lived in Sadogashima? That’s so cool! I’ve been to Niigata only once to visit relatives. My dad moved to Tokyo when he was kid, so I didn’t get a chance to see rice filed in Niigata. But I wrote a post about my trip to rice field here in California (https://www.justonecookbook.com/rice-milling-tour-far-west-rice/). We love rice!!
I’ll definitely look into the book. Thank you so much for your recommendation!
Hi Nami! Thank you for this post! It’s so interesting to get some more details about the japanese rice! I buy rice from Japan and I enjoy it a lot, the price is much higher than japanese rice that is grown in the USA or Europe but the taste is really worth its price! Would you like to write some more posts abot the japanese rice cultivation and the different sorts of it?
Have a nice week!
Hi Genus! It’s so nice to hear that you enjoy Japanese rice from Japan. I’d love to visit Japanese rice field one day and write a post about it.
Have a nice week too!
Awesome! Looking forward to read that post, too…