What exactly is rice quality? I have noticed that varying tag price of rice which I classify as cheap, medium, expensive. There was a time that I bought all the variety of rice for evaluation purposes. After serving at home, there was no comment except one variety which was soggy. My assessment is that the price does not really dictate the quality for those variety of rice practically tasted the same. So now what we buy is the medium cheap which is good to eat just like the expensive variety.
@Alexandoy I think rice quality includes the color, wholeness, softness, and aroma of the rice. The first two are taken into consideration when you're choosing (visually) the uncooked rice. People mainly prefer whole grain white rice than the yellowish cracked rice, but those two qualities mainly depend on the rice miller's equipment and if the rice got flooded when it was still in the field. The expensive ones are usually the long grain, aromatic and soft rice. The cheaper ones are usually very hard when cooked and many people don't actually want to eat such kind of rice (based on experience). Some people even say that if the rice is soft, they can eat it as is without pairing it up with a dish. That's how good a soft (sometimes almost like glutinous) rice is. Thus, softness of the rice is probably the most important quality that makes the rice very expensive. Then if you couple softness with aroma (and I mean the really fragrant variety), expect a real weight gain from people eating it So yes, the price is in a way reflective of the rice quality(especially if you buy it from the supermarket). Aaand don't forget to check the rice variety, too.
Rice age is also one of the reason that affects rice quality and price. Aged rice is better than new rice, therefore, a three years old rice is always better than the new rice. Aged rice can be eaten by all kinds of people including diabetes, which other wise have to avoid rice because of quantity of starch in the rice. price and quality also depend on size, long grain are usually expensive than short grain.
@luri Oh, that's the opposite of what I know, though I recall some people preferring an older rice ( several months or a year old) to a newly milled one. I also remember my mom saying that there's this rice variety that is very soft when newly milled but it gets harder after several months, so she doesn't like that variety. So, what are the characteristics of an aged rice?
In most cases, the price will reflect the quality, aroma, and taste of the rice. I, too, experimented with different rice varieties. The hardest rice can be softened with the right amount of water when cooking. My aunt who used to be a rice dealer told me that even the cheapest rice can taste and smell as good as medium-priced rice by washing it thoroughly and cooking with more water than usual. Well, I did try to buy the cheapest rice but it smelled so bad that I decided to go for medium-priced rice. When I asked the storekeeper why that variety was cheap, I was told that the rice was soaked in flood water so they're selling it at the cheapest price. I was shocked and never bought rice from that store again. Vendors can be unscrupulous. For instance, Jasmine rice from Thailand is a bit more expensive than other varieties but it tastes and smells good and worth the higher price. I always buy this when there's an occasion. However, it's disappointing because some vendors apparently want to capitalize on the popularity of this variety that they would place Jasmine rice signboards on other rice varieties to fetch a higher price for their merchandise. It discouraged me from buying Jasmine rice at the public market. Lesson learned: only buy rice from reputable vendors to make the most of your money.
Have you tried buying NFA rice? I think that's the cheapest one, and boy does it smell bad, you can smell it as you cook it! It smelled like cockroaches. My dad used to buy that kind for the dogs, and the rice for humans was the more expensive one. The best rice I've tasted was the one that was sold in SM, in a sealed plastic. It was expensive alright, but it really tastes good and the grains were not soggy at all.
This is one product that usually does not really matter about the price all that much, but at the same time you still have to weary of the cheaper stuff. I would say that brand is very important, and it can still be pretty cheap.
