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Revelation: cooking rice with bamboo charcoal

By Catherine Toth Fox • May 20, 2012 • Food

Last month, on a 16-day trip to Japan, I happened to be in Kyoto on the 21st, the day every month a huge — and hugely popular — flea market is held on the grounds of Tō-ji (temple).

While browsing the booths hawking everything from freshly made okonomiyaki to used Nikon cameras, I came across one selling flat pieces of charcoal.

And I had no idea why.

So I walked over and, in my very elementary Japanese, asked the smiling woman in the booth what these charcoal blocks were for.

Thankfully, she could speak English. And even better, she had brochures for American tourists just like me.

She explained that these were pieces of bamboo charcoal, taken from older plants and burned inside an oven at extremely high temperatures. The result is an environmentally functional material that has excellent absorption properties — and lots of other uses I had never heard of before.

For example, you can place it in water to purify it. You can put it in your refrigerator to remove odors and keep your fruits and vegetables fresh. You can place it in hot oil to improve the taste and crispness of whatever you’re frying. It can even clean and ionize the atmosphere in your room and protect your electronics.

But one of the more common uses of bamboo charcoal is for cooking rice. It absorbs chlorine, bad odor and toxic substances from water, thusly improving the taste, look and quality of the rice.

That sold me.

So I bought a bag of bamboo charcoal, shared some with my parents, and saved one to try myself.

I debated between using this block of bamboo charcoal to purify my drinking water — another popular use, one that dates back centuries — or in my rice cooker. The latter was more of a draw for me since I eat way more rice than I drink water. So I tried it last night.

I placed the block in my rice cooker, right in the water, before I cooked it. I wasn’t sure what it was going to do or how the rice would be improved by it. I had my doubts.

Well, I gotta say, I’m pretty sold on this.

Not only was the rice shinier — I thought, for a minute, the rice might turn black due to the charcoal, but it didn’t — it actually tasted better. Derek put it best: “It’s like the difference between drinking tap water and mineral water.”

It actually tasted cleaner, like I had rinsed the rice in Evian.

I’m sold.

Anyone else tried using bamboo charcoal? (If not, you should!)

bamboo charcoalbenefits of bamboo charcoalCatTravelscooking riceHawaiiJapanKyotoToji Temple flea market
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Catherine Toth Fox

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22 Comments

  • Reply M May 20, 2012 at 9:23 pm

    Hello Cat,

    I’ll be in Kyoto in a few weeks. I hope I can find the bamboo charcoals.

    • Reply Catherine Toth May 21, 2012 at 7:51 am

      So excited! When are you leaving? Going to Fukuoka??

      • Reply M May 21, 2012 at 8:39 am

        We are leaving on 6/6 to Fukuoka for a few days then to Osaka for a couple days, then to Kyoto for a few days and on to Tokyo till the 21st. Any tips besides what you posted?

  • Reply ragavibe May 20, 2012 at 9:30 pm

    Same function w/ charcoal and aquarium filters.
    Can you use the block again, or is it one and done? Gotta try it!

    • Reply Catherine Toth May 21, 2012 at 7:52 am

      I’m pretty sure you can use it again. I am!

  • Reply Danny May 20, 2012 at 10:59 pm

    What do you think is in Britta filter? Charcoal….

    • Reply Catherine Toth May 21, 2012 at 7:50 am

      Really? I had no idea!

  • Reply Cody Zamboni May 21, 2012 at 1:21 am

    charcoal is also good as an air purifyer, gets rid of odors

    • Reply Catherine Toth May 21, 2012 at 7:53 am

      That’s what I found out, too. Of course, folks have known this for centuries and I’m just finding out now!

  • Reply WildeOscar May 21, 2012 at 3:22 am

    This is one of those simple discoveries that’s probably been used for hundreds or thousands of years. I never heard of it before, but now I know. Seems safe and easy to transport, and in its charcoal form, totally clean and pest free. Hmmm, I’ve gotta give it a try.

    • Reply Catherine Toth May 21, 2012 at 7:54 am

      Yeah, I’m a convert! I’ll find out where you can get these locally.

  • Reply Jason May 21, 2012 at 4:24 am

    Anyone know if this is available in the US? I wanna try this!

    • Reply Catherine Toth May 21, 2012 at 7:54 am

      I’ll look around, too.

  • Reply dbjack May 21, 2012 at 5:03 am

    We have a 200 ft well and so no chlorine to deal with. Been drinking it unfiltered for years now and can say it tastes so much better than any city water I’ve ever had. It also does not change the flavor of whatever we are cooking. As for bamboo charcoal… how well does it work if you try to toss it in a barbecue smoker or something like that? We use hickory for that around here and it tastes pretty good.

    If it removes odors I’d keep a block in the house for the dog… assuming she didn’t eat the thing.

    • Reply Catherine Toth May 21, 2012 at 7:55 am

      I heard rice tastes better if the water quality is better, which makes sense. Notice a difference with the well water?

      • Reply dbjack May 21, 2012 at 9:50 am

        Yes. Much better rice with well water. Homemade beer was also much better. It is a good idea to have your well water tested periodically. But I can truly say that it is water that tastes great right from the faucet. Even though water does not supposedly have a flavor.

  • Reply Annoddah Dave May 21, 2012 at 9:08 am

    CAT,
    this sounds like a guud idea. I noticed that rice cooked in cookers with non-stick lining have a peculiar odor. I notice it but others may not. I think it is the chemicals in the coating that leeches out. Need to find the charcoal to check it out.

  • Reply matt May 22, 2012 at 6:54 am

    very interesting. another example of modern science just reinventing the wheel (science nerd moment: charcoal, being carbon, binds to many impurities in water/air and draws them out. many of the impurities are organic (carbon based molecules) so they have an affinity for carbon)

    my mom and dad have a stand of bamboo in their back yard. I wonder if we can make this at home.

  • Reply Panini May 22, 2012 at 8:15 am

    Interesting…

  • Reply Old Man May 24, 2012 at 6:10 pm

    I like try, So where did you get your stash?

  • Reply Charcoal — 5 Unexpected How-Tos and Tips To Use At Home and For Beauty Care ~ Krrb Blog March 22, 2013 at 8:33 am

    […] with charcoal is more than just firing up the grill. Slip in a piece of charcoal when you’re boiling rice or pasta it naturally absorbs chlorine, bad odor and toxic substances from […]

  • Reply Tino June 23, 2017 at 5:23 pm

    Howzit?

    Arsenic is a good reason to use it if you eat lots of rice. Arsenic in the rice not the water. Especially for children who may consune rice everyday like in Hawaii, that’s important. Just do a search of – Arsenic in Rice.

    From what little I know making activated charcoal isn’t a DIY project as it requires very high heat. It is available online. However, charcoal for water is different than charcoal for air filtration I believe.

    Naturally you reuse a chuck of activated charcoal like in your images, until it captures too many impurities.

    You probably know all this by now and more.

    Mahalos,

    Tino

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About Me

About Me
Born and raised on O‘ahu, Hawaiʻi, Catherine Toth Fox has been chronicling her adventures in her blog, The Cat Dish, for more than a decade. She worked as a newspaper reporter in Hawai‘i for 10 years and continues to freelance—in between teaching journalism, hitting the surf and eating everything in sight—for national and local print and online publications. She’s currently the editor of HAWAIʻI Magazine.

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