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According to nutrition research, cooking rice with tea water allows the flavors of tea and rice to complement each other. The aroma of the tea can make the rice more fragrant and delicious, while the starch in the rice can effectively counteract the bitterness and astringency of the tea. Cooking rice with tea water also has four major health benefits: first, tea polyphenols can help soften blood vessels, lower blood lipids, and prevent cardiovascular diseases; second, tea polyphenols can block the synthesis of carcinogenic nitrosamines in the human body, thus preventing digestive tract tumors; third, the tannic acid in the tea rice has the function of preventing stroke; and fourth, the fluoride in the tea rice is an indispensable substance in dentin, which can enhance the toughness and acid resistance of teeth, preventing cavities.
It is understood that Yunnan's tea industry is optimistic about the many benefits of cooking rice with tea water and has launched tea bags that can be directly placed in a rice cooker to easily make delicious and healthy tea rice. Cooking rice with tea water is both tasty and disease-preventing.
In fact, to get fragrant rice, you don't necessarily need new rice; you can use tea water to cook it and get a meal with excellent color, aroma, and taste. Most remarkably, cooking rice with tea water also has many benefits such as reducing greasiness, freshening the breath, aiding digestion, and preventing diseases.
Rice with excellent color, aroma, and taste is a staple food on the tables of Chinese families. People generally prefer new rice because it has a pure and mellow rice aroma.
According to nutrition research, regularly eating rice cooked with tea water can prevent and treat four diseases.
Preventing and treating cardiovascular diseases. Tea polyphenols are the main substance in tea, accounting for about 70-80% of the water extract. Scientific experiments have proven that tea polyphenols can enhance the elasticity of capillaries and prevent the rupture of capillary walls, which can cause bleeding. Moreover, tea polyphenols can lower blood cholesterol and inhibit arteriosclerosis. Middle-aged and elderly people who often eat rice cooked with tea water can soften blood vessels, lower blood lipids, and prevent cardiovascular diseases.
Preventing stroke. One of the causes of stroke is the formation of lipid peroxides in the human body, which makes the blood vessels lose their elasticity. The tannic acid in tea water happens to have the effect of inhibiting the formation of lipid peroxides, so it can effectively prevent and treat stroke.
It has anti-cancer effects. The tea polyphenols in tea water can block the synthesis of nitrosamines in the human body, thereby preventing the formation of tumors in the digestive system. Amines and nitrites are widely present in food. At a temperature of 37°C and under appropriate acidic conditions, they can easily form carcinogenic nitrosamines. Cooking rice with tea water can effectively prevent the formation of nitrosamines, thus achieving the goal of preventing gastrointestinal and other digestive tract cancers.
Preventing dental diseases. The fluoride contained in tea is an important substance that is indispensable in dentin. If a small amount of fluoride can continuously infiltrate the tooth tissue, it can enhance the toughness and acid resistance of teeth, preventing cavities.
The method of cooking rice with tea water is very simple: first, steep 1-3 grams of tea in 500 to 1000 grams of boiling water for 4 to 9 minutes. Take a small piece of clean gauze, filter the tea water to remove the dregs and set it aside (overnight tea water should not be used). Then, wash the rice and put it in the pot, pour the tea water into the rice cooker, making sure it is about 3 cm higher than the surface of the rice, and cook until done.
The reporter learned at a tea rice tasting and experience event held in Kunming that cooking rice with tea has become a new "food" trend for tea lovers.
Take an appropriate amount of tea, add water to brew, wait for the tea to expand, then filter out the tea leaves and use the water to cook the rice. The fresh aroma of the tea blends with the sweetness of the rice. The cooked rice is not only excellent in color, aroma, and taste but also has many health benefits.
Cooking rice with tea water can be traced back to ancient medical classics and folk traditions. According to "Ben Shi Shi Yi" (A Supplement to Materia Medica), it is recorded that "long-term consumption of rice cooked with tea makes one lean." In Lincang, a famous tea-producing area in Yunnan, there is also a folk song that says, "Nothing is tastier than tea-cooked rice, and nothing is more fun than stepping on the Flower Mountain." This shows that cooking rice with tea water is a long-standing food culture.