If you’re going to make some delicious homemade sushi, then you’re going to need to go out and buy yourself some sushi rice. Once you’ve learned how to make sushi rice, you might find yourself addicted to it, but where can you store all of your rice to ensure that it doesn’t go bad?
If your sushi rice is uncooked, all you have to do is ensure that it’s stored in a cool, dark place in an airtight container. This will maintain the quality of your sushi rice for between one and two years, and while it might last a little longer after that, the quality will begin to degrade.
Of course, there’s a lot more to know about properly storing sushi rice than that, so I’m going to take a closer look at how you can ensure that your rice retains its quality when stored, both cooked and uncooked.
How to Store Sushi Rice
As long as your sushi rice isn’t already cooked and sticky, you shouldn’t have too much trouble keeping it from going bad. One of the things that has made rice a staple for so many cultures all around the world is the fact that rice doesn’t go bad as easily as other crops or ingredients.
The first thing you’ll want to make sure of is that you have an airtight container ready for your rice since that will ensure that the air remains stagnant and that nothing gets into it. You may find rice storage containers at the store where you buy your sushi rice.
Since rice absorbs moisture with relative ease, you want to minimize the amount of moisture in the container.
More moisture in rice means that there’s more of a chance for bacteria to thrive and grow, so you want to ensure that the container is fully dry before you use it. Wash it out, and dry it out yourself before leaving it to air dry. Once you’ve made sure that the container is fully dried out, you can start using it for rice storage.
You can now pour your rice into the container. If you intend to store your rice for longer than a couple of months, you may also want to consider putting a few oxygen absorber packets into the container at the same time. These will help maintain the quality of the rice.
Deciding where to store your rice is just as crucial as figuring out what container you’re going to put it in. If you plan to use your rice frequently after storing it, then you should keep it somewhere accessible yet dry and dark, like your kitchen pantry.
However, if you’re trying to store your sushi rice long-term, then you won’t want it getting in the way of all of your other ingredients. In this case, you may want to store your rice in a cellar or somewhere else where it will be both dark and dry. You may want to also keep it elevated to keep it away from pests.
When you want to access your rice, you should take as much out of the container as you need and check for signs of rodent or pest infestation to ensure that your stored rice hasn’t been compromised. If you want to make sure that your uncooked rice is free of pests, you can always freeze it to kill off any that may be in there.
Storing Cooked Sushi Rice
Once you’ve determined how much vinegar you need in your sushi rice and cooked it, you may be wondering if you can store it to retain its delicious flavor and firm texture. You’ll want to make sure that you store the rice within two hours of cooking it to ensure that bacteria doesn’t start growing.
Start off by getting a pan ready by spraying it with canola oil. You can also avoid using oil if you line the pan with parchment paper. You can then spread the rice over the pan or baking sheet in an even layer to ensure that it cools off evenly. Put the pan in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes to cool the rice.
Prepare an airtight container like a ziplock bag for the rice and spoon it into the container once it has cooled off in the refrigerator. Keep in mind that you can only store cooked rice for up to a week if you don’t want it to start going bad.