Abstract
In order to examine the difference in taste preference for cooked rice between the Japanese and Chinese individuals, we performed a sensory test on japonica type Chinese rice cultivars. A significant positive correlation was observed in the overall eating-quality between the Japanese and Chinese panels. However, some Chinese rice cultivars that were given a low rank by the Japanese panel were evaluated highly palatable by the Chinese panel. This difference may be attributed to the difference between the Japanese and Chinese in the contribution of each criteria to the evaluation of the overall eating-quality. These results indicate that it is possible to breed highly palatable cultivars different from Japanese taste preference. A significant positive correlation was observed between the Japanese and Chinese panels in the appearance, taste and stickiness, but not in hardness. The Japanese panel mainly determined the overall eating-quality by stickiness and appearance, whereas the Chinese panel determined it by stickiness and hardness. In particular, the taste preference for hardness of the Japanese panel differed from that of the Chinese panel, the Japanese panel preferred soft rice while the Chinese panel preferred hard rice.
