The 1 Label My Korean Mother Always Looks for When Buying Rice

Even though I grew up in Mississippi, I ate Asian-style rice just about every day. Specifically, my family enjoyed plump, sticky steamed Korean or Japanese white rice. We might have had chicken-fried steak with brown gravy for dinner — but instead of ladling that gravy over a bed of mashed potatoes, we’d spoon it over rice. That’s because my mother is Korean, and steamed white rice was a nonnegotiable for her.

All my life, she has given me the same shopping advice when it comes to rice: Always seek out new crop rice. As the name suggests, “new crop” typically designates rice from the most recent harvest. It usually has a higher moisture content, cooks to a plumper texture, and tends to clump — perfect for eating with chopsticks. I find (and my mother swears) that new crop rice has a noticeably delicate, sweet, pure flavor.

Which new crop rice varieties should you seek out?

It’s worth looking for new crop short- or medium-grain rice for Japanese- or Korean-style preparations so that it has a stickier, softer texture when cooked. New crop jasmine rice is another rice variety that is prized for its heightened floral, nutty aroma and moist texture; it works especially well for Thai and Vietnamese cooking.

When is new crop rice available?

Depending on the retailer, you may find rice labeled “new crop” beyond harvest season. But for the newest new crop, keep these rough timeframes in mind:

• Japanese and Korean new crop rice starts to hit stores in the fall, showing up anywhere from late September through November.
• Thai jasmine new crop rice often shows up a little later, in November or December.

How to tell if you’re buying new crop rice

I tend to have the best luck shopping for new crop rice at Asian markets. Sometimes, the rice is clearly labeled with the words “new crop” on the bag. Other times, as at my favorite local Asian market, you might find a section of the store with signs clearly touting which rice is new crop; the labels might not say “new crop,” but the store will indicate that it is. At my local market, these are often larger bags of rice, anywhere from 15 to 40 pounds. If neither the bag nor the store shelf or section tells you which products are new crop, look for a harvest date on the bag (though not all packages will list this date). You can also find new crop rice online at retailers such as HMart. 

How to store new crop rice

To preserve new crop rice’s moisture content and delicate flavor, I recommend storing it in the refrigerator. Keep it in a zip-close plastic bag or airtight container to help it hold onto its moisture and subtle aromas and flavors for months.

Cooking tips for new crop rice

Because new crop rice has more internal moisture, you might have to use less water for cooking. Start with a test batch, using your usual water-to-rice ratio. If the rice ends up mushy or porridgelike, dial back the water a bit and cook another batch. Keep tweaking until you find the sweet spot. If you make rice in a rice cooker, follow the instructions in the user manual for cooking new crop rice. Understand that new crop rice will also cook to a clumpy and moister consistency. If you want fluffy, separate grains, see below.

The one exception — when aged rice is preferable

The new crop advice from my mom applies to rice that you want to be moist, plump, and sticky. But for rice that you want to cook to a dry, fluffy, separate texture — such as many basmati rice preparations — it’s worth seeking out aged rice. The changes that the grains experience through the aging process, including loss of moisture, help the rice achieve the impossibly fluffy texture that you might have only experienced at Persian or Indian restaurants.