I buy both, but haven't noticed a change.

I know it seems odd but yes I have noticed over here in Australia that basmati rice isn’t as fragrant as it used to be so we switched to the jasmine which seems to be still OK.

I haven’t had covid at all so it not a personal loss of smell.

I have noticed the differences by checking my old supply VS new purchases.

I think it's because of:

1. Supply chain issues.

2. Climate changes.

dcarch

It may be you. Have experimented with other scents?

Jasmine is always fragrant IMPE. Basmati has never seemed fragrant to me at all.

I prefer Jasmine for that reason.

Yes, I've noticed with basmati. I liked Golden Star basmati and I could order it from WalMart and A-zon but it's been discontinued. Fortunately my grocer recently started selling Khazana, which is fragrant, extra long grain and not too starchy, so the grains cook up separately. I buy the 2 lb. bag for under $3 but it sells for more online.

Yes, I also noticed the lack of fragrance with both. I don;t know any reason, but I miss this too. I thought it was because of the stroke I had, but it is interesting to find that others have noticed too.

I agree. I have given up buying basmati. Also, I recently learned that it is one or the most contaminated with pesticides. They want to maximise the crop as it's the most popular so it's gets liberal doses unlike the cheapest rice that has less residue.

Yes, I bought a bag of basmati and and a bag of jasmine from the Asian food store within the last two weeks. I shop there often. We have a nice, big Asian food store here.

So far, I have expereinced four bags that had no fragrance. Three were basamati and one was jasmine. Two were from the Asian food store , one from Goya, and the other I think was from the natural food co op where I have been buying for decades. Not one of them could have been taken for being scented rice. The last jasmine rice that I bought was supposed to be "highly fragrant".

Yes, I had an uneventful case of covid, late in the game. Hubs does not detect the scent on the rice either.

I am going to ask the opinion of a friend who I know never had covid and she what she thinks. I have suspected that my sense of smell might have taken something of a hit. I notice it in the kitchen, too. I dont seem to smell onions cooking like I used to. A sense of smell is important to a cook .

But, I do think that I noticed this lack of scent before I had covid. I think that I noticed this change on the rice during the covid period, but the sequence of events may be blurry. That is a possibilty ,but I'll see what my friend thinks about it.

I am so surprised at this. I always bought basamati at the grocery store, probably Goya, and never thought about it .It was always fragrant and nice.

So, still there are mixed responses.

I could see that maybe some of the rice might not have met quality control, but all four bags of different ones and over time? It seems unlikely.

I was curious. I haven't bought rice recently—but I've never bought basmati that was particularly fragrant, though there's a particular tone that plain sugary rice doesn't have. Nor have I brought home jasmine rice which wasn't distinctively jasmine rice. So being curious, I asked Mr. Google. Nothing came up quickly about missing fragrance or flavor, but I did learn that jasmine rice gets its flavor from pandan, and this is the best written explanation (from a commercial source) I found:

“The secret of the fragrance in Thai jasmine rice is from the substances triggering the aroma in rice, namely the 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline essential oil or, in short, substance 2AP. This substance is the same substance found in pandan leaves and flowers. Many mistakenly assume that Thai Jasmine rice smells like jasmine, but actually, it’s not the jasmine scent, but it’s the pandan leaf’s scent. The name Thai Jasmine rice probably originated from the fact that Thai Jasmine rice, when cooked, appears white in color, like jasmine flowers. Therefore, the correct name of Thai Jasmine rice should be “Jasmine flower rice”.

“Only Thai Hom Mali Jasmine rice contains 2AP. The genes in DNA enable this ability to create such fragrance. Although, if the Thai Hom Mali Jasmine rice is planted in the wrong location at the wrong time of year, its aroma may decrease and the rice may have almost no fragrance at all, which means that the environment in which the rice is grown also has an influence on the production of the aroma of rice.“ — https://www.cpthairice.com/why-is-thai-jasmine-rice-aromatic/

Here is another commercial essay, this about basmati. It describes basmati as ”nutty” rather than ”fragrant” which describes my experience in the past. Not a knock on your words here—just trying to relate. It also cites 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline, but India doesn't have the pandan, I suppose, leading to a different terroir, or something like that. ETA—Nope. According to Wikipedia, annapurna is pandan. Maybe some basmati has the same scent as Thai jasmine. ... One interesting point in this was that the basmati has to be aged. Remember when there was no rice during the height of the pandemic? Perhaps the rice industry is still catching up (pure speculation on my part).

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/fragrant-grain-exploring-history-varieties-culinary-significance#:~:text=The%20distinct%20nutty%20fragrance%20comes,year%20before%20it%20is%20consumed.

My suspicions would be plant breeding in response to the demands of climate change and modern factory farming methods. Many plants that are bred for certain characteristics lose their scent, due to certain genes being replaced with others and the scent genes were connected to the older genes somehow. I know this happens with plants, with bigger flowers in alternate colors to the native ones often losing their scent. Petunias is a classic example, only white and purple ones have scent, and even then, only sometimes. Carnations are another example. The most fragrant carnations I ever grew has little whispy flowers. Same thing happens with taste genes.

I know American basmati rice has different characteristics bred for American rice growing conditions. It's a hybrid I believe. Here's a little slice of rice history. https://www.thekitchn.com/who-owns-basmati-texmati-23153188

I feel like the common denominator here may be the person smelling - or not smelling - the rice. What are the odds the different packages all came from the same source?

I recently listened to someone recounting having to train their nose to smell things again after COVID. I think the how-to info is probably available online.

I also just read today about people with mild or asymptomatic COVID going on to develop long COVID symptoms later - something to think about.

Jyoti Basmati Supreme is a very fragrant and extra long grain rice that is sold at some grocery stores.

I always buy Lundberg and both the basamati and jasmine are fragrant, but in a different way.

I agree that the common element of all four bags is my own subjective sense of smell. I am going to ask a friend to take a whiff and she what she thinks. She has never had covid.

I strongly do believe that I noticed this about the time that covid started, but I wont swear to it. It just gradually dawned on me that that nice fragrance wasnt there anymore and cant pinpoint the timeline . So much was fractured with covid.

pilog, I couldnt find a lot about this lack of fragrance, either . I found that basic information but no explanation as to what might cause the fragrance to be missing.

Apparently, others say that they have experineced this.

In reading what pillog wrote and other things on the web, perhaps it is due to supply chains changing and growers and product from different regions being swapped in. It seems even the weather than impact things, and some of these areas have suffered through some abnormal growing season. My current set of basmatic is highly fragrant (it was from Costco, a monstrous bag from India from a Costco located in a town with a high percentage of Indian subcontinent diaspora) but my jasmine, not so much.

I knew I'd heard some news about rice crops impacted by climate destabilization...

https://apnews.com/article/climate-change-el-nino-rice-ukraine-c094d60a613a9bb861505130fb4958c4

If you want rice from the U.S. try popcorn rice. It's a basmati hybrid with a rich, nutty flavor. It used to be all I bought.

https://campbellfarms.com/product/gourmet-rice-2lb-bag/