Black rice is a food with high nutritional and medicinal value, especially effective for weight loss and health preservation. However, the current market is flooded with low-quality black rice, so we must be vigilant when purchasing it.
Regular consumption of black rice can invigorate the spleen, warm the liver, improve eyesight, and promote blood circulation.
Compared to regular rice, black rice not only has a higher protein content and a complete set of essential amino acids for the human body, but it also contains a large amount of natural black rice pigment, various trace elements, and vitamins. It is particularly rich in iron, selenium, zinc, vitamin B1, vitamin B2, and more. In Chinese folk tradition, black rice is commonly known as "medicinal rice" or "postpartum rice." It is used as a nourishing food for postpartum women and patients with weakness and frailty, and also to improve iron-deficiency anemia in pregnant and postpartum women, children, and animal models of anemia.
The inorganic salts contained in black rice, such as manganese, zinc, and copper, are generally 1 to 3 times higher than in regular rice. It also contains special ingredients that regular rice lacks, such as vitamin C, chlorophyll, anthocyanins, carotene, and cardiac glycosides. Therefore, black rice is more nutritious than ordinary rice.
Eating more black rice can whet the appetite, benefit the middle burner, invigorate the spleen and warm the liver, improve eyesight and promote blood circulation, and has a lubricating, astringent, and essence-replenishing effect. It is very beneficial for nourishing conditions such as premature graying of hair in young people, postpartum weakness in women, post-illness frailty, anemia, and kidney deficiency.
Three classic tips for selecting high-quality black rice
1. Look at the color and appearance of the black rice.
Generally, high-quality black rice has a luster, uniform grain size, few broken grains, no cracked grains (known as "waist explosion"), no insects, and no impurities. Inferior and low-quality black rice has a dull color, uneven grain size, poor fullness, many broken grains, insects, and clumping. For dyed black rice, since the black color is concentrated in the bran layer while the endosperm remains white, consumers can scrape off the entire bran layer of the grain to see if the kernel is white. If it is not white, it is highly likely to be artificially dyed black rice.
2. Smell the aroma of the black rice.
Take a small amount of black rice in your hand, blow hot air on it, and then immediately smell it. High-quality black rice has a normal, fresh aroma without any other odors. Inferior or low-quality black rice may have a slight off-odor, musty smell, sour smell, rancid smell, or other abnormal odors.
3. Taste the black rice.
You can take a small amount of black rice, chew it carefully, or grind it before tasting. High-quality black rice tastes good, slightly sweet, and has no off-flavors. Tasteless, slightly off-flavored, sour, bitter, or having other unpleasant flavors indicates inferior or low-quality black rice.
People with excessive internal heat and dryness should not eat black rice
1. The grains of black rice are covered by a tough seed coat, which makes them difficult to cook. Therefore, black rice should be soaked overnight before cooking. If black rice porridge is not cooked thoroughly, not only can most of its signature nutrients not be released, but it can also easily cause acute gastroenteritis after consumption. This is especially true for children and the elderly or weak with weaker digestive functions. Therefore, people with poor digestion should not eat uncooked black rice.
2. People with weak digestive abilities after illness should not rush to eat black rice; they can eat some purple rice for conditioning instead.
3. According to Traditional Chinese Medicine, black rice is neutral in nature and sweet in taste; it is not suitable for people with excessive internal heat and dryness.
4. Since most of the nutrients in black rice are concentrated in the black bran layer, it is not suitable for refined processing. It is best to eat it as brown rice or standard third-grade rice.