Black rice
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- For the Valencian dish, see Arroz negro.
Black rice is one of several black-colored heirloom plants producing rice variants such as Indonesian Black Rice, forbidden rice, or wild rice. High in nutritional value, forbidden rice is rich in iron. Unlike other black rice from Asia, it is not glutinous or rough. This grain is high in fiber and has a deep, nutty taste. Black forbidden rice 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 has a relatively high mineral content (including iron) and, like most rice, supplies several important amino acids.
To paraphrase one source[citation needed], this rice was enjoyed at the court of the ancient Chinese emperors for its nutritional properties. Most references say that it was reserved for the emperor’s table, and since it was probably shared with the emperor's consorts, as well as other members of his family and the court at his discretion it was thus called "forbidden rice."
In China, noodles made from black rice have recently begun being produced. At least one United States bread company has also begun producing "Chinese Black Rice" bread. It shares the deep tyrian color of cooked black rice.
[edit] Notes
- ^ 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.
- ^ 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.