Black rice

Black rice as sold in China

For the Valencian dish, see Arroz negro.

Black rice is a kind of sticky rice which is one of several black colored heirloom plants producing rice variants such as Indonesian black rice and Thai Jasmine Black Rice. Black rice is high in nutritional value including and contains 18 amino acids, iron^{[citation needed]}, zinc, copper, carotene, anthocyanin and several important vitamins. The grain has a similar amount of fiber to brown rice^{[citation needed]} and like brown rice, has a mild, nutty taste. Black rice also has medicinal value and is considered to be good for kidney , stomach and liver in China. What’s more, Modern Medicine thinks black rice has certain effect on improving eyesight, enriching the blood, relieving pain, treating inside and outside injury. People can have a great improvement in anemia, dizziness, eye disease and white hair if eating black rice for a long time.

It is a deep black color and turns deep purple when cooked. Its dark purple color is primarily due to its high anthocyanin content.^[1][2] It is suitable for making porridge and it can also be used for making dessert, traditional Chinese black rice cake, bread and so on.

In China, noodles made from black rice have recently begun to be produced^{[citation needed]}. At least one United States bread company has also begun producing "Chinese Black Rice" bread^{[citation needed]}. It shares the deep tyrian color of cooked black rice.

Thai jasmine black rice is grown in Thailand. Jasmine rice gets its name for the fragrant jasmine scent it produces while being cooked. Black jasmine rice, while not as prevalent as the white and brown varieties, adds more vibrant color to meals, but it also provides additional health benefits.^{[citation needed]}.

Black Rice Recipes

Black Rice Porridge

Ingredients: water, black rice, brown sugar

Directions: In a pot, put washed black rice into water, cook until the porridge gets rich. Add brown sugar and stir, continue to cook for about 10 minute.

Note: The outer layer of black rice is a bit hard to digest, so it will be better to soak black rice in water for 3-4 hours before cooking or it may cause some problem to people with weak digest function. Boil the rice with the water that the rice soaked in in order to fully keep the nutrition constituent.

Black Rice Cake

Ingredients: 1 cup of black rice, 2 eggs, white sugar 20g

Directions:

1) Soak black rice in water for 8 to 12 hours; 2) Put black rice and water in the blender and make them to a thick liquid; 3) Filter the thick liquid through gauze and rice powder for later use; 4) In a mixing bowl, beat the eggs and sugar on a low speed until the mix gets fluffy; 5) Mix the rice powder from step 3 with the mix from step 4; 6) Put the mix from step 5 in mold with parchment paper and steam it for about 15 minutes.

Notes

1. ^ Takashi Ichiyanagi, Bing Xu, Yoichi Yoshii, PhD, Masaharu Nakajima, PhD, Tetsuya Konishi, PhD. Antioxidant Activity of Anthocyanin Extract from Purple Black Rice. Journal of Medicinal Food. December 1, 2001, 4(4): 211-218.
2. ^ ABDEL-AAL El-Sayed M.; YOUNG J. Christopher; RABALSKI Iwona. Anthocyanin composition in black, blue, pink, purple, and red cereal grains. Journal of agricultural and food chemistry. 2006, vol. 54, no13, pp. 4696-4704.

External links

• Black Rice or Forbidden Rice
• Metrotimes.com editorial
• Food Consumer Article on Health Benefits of Black Rice
• 'Jasmine Black Rice Nutrition' on Livestrong.com
• Black thai jasmine rice being planted in Thailand
• Black Foods can Tonify the Kidneys