sticky rice

[rlivings]

Maybe I grew up in a strange household but I always thought all rice was supposed to be sticky so using the term "sticky rice" was redundant. Is this a mainland thing or do locals call regular rice, "sticky rice" too.

I tend to think of mochi rice when I hear sticky rice.

[glossyp]

I always think of mochi or sweet rice as well but I'm not sure either if that's what people mean when they refer to 'sticky rice'...

[Pan]

See more here: Sticky, glutinous, or sweet rice.

[skchai]

As the site Pan pointed to indicates, the most common usage is for sticky rice to refer to glutinous rice. But as rlivings says, some people also refer to medium-grain rice as "sticky" too in comparison with long-grain. So I guess it is all a matter of your frame of reference. . .

[andiesenji]

To me sweet rice is one thing, it is sticky, but the "Calrose" short grain rice grown in California is also very "sticky" in that it clumps together easily and it is not sweet. It is often used in sushi.

You can read a bit more about it

here.