Black rice is soft and fragrant. In ancient times, the practice was to steam rice, dry it in the sun, then soak it in the juice of black rice leaves and steam it for 9 times. The so-called "nine steaming and nine exposure" makes the finished rice hard and can be preserved for a long time, taken far away and soaked in boiling water. The current practice is to cook the leaves of Nanzhuang with slow fire for a long time, so that they can be soft and fragrant.

Ingredients: 500 grams of glutinous rice and 50 grams of southern candle leaves.

Exercise:

1. Wash glutinous rice for later use.

2. Wash the southern candle leaves, add 500 ml of water and cook for half an hour. Remove the leaves, take the juice and cook the glutinous rice for about 2 hours. When beige turns black, it can be eaten after cooking.

Efficacy: invigorating spleen and kidney, relieving cough and tranquilizing mind, improving eyesight and blackening hair, suitable for dietotherapy and nourishing for people with weak constitution. The plant for making black rice can be Toarey Yang, an evergreen shrub of Ericaceae, with grassy oval leaves, bright red new leaves and dark green old leaves; Racemes axillary, corolla white; Berries are spherical and purple-black when they are ripe. Note that this is not bamboo, tallow (this is a tree), maple, etc. Sun Simiao said, "Southern Candle Decoction is beneficial to the hair, that is, it is beneficial to the face, warming it and treating various wind diseases. Take it for a long time, lose weight and improve eyesight, and keep your face black. " The tender leaves of maple can replace tea. The root bark and leaves of Sapium sebiferum have the functions of detumescence, detoxification, diuresis and antidiarrheal.

Black rice was originally a folk festival food in China, which had existed in the Tang Dynasty. In Jiangsu and Anhui, it has become a custom for many people to cook black rice with the leaves of Vaccinium bracteatum.

The eighth day of the fourth lunar month is the traditional Nirvana Festival in China. According to folklore, in order to get food, Mulian, a disciple of Sakyamuni, tried to dye rice with the juice of southern candle leaves and cook it into black rice to send. Hungry ghosts dare not eat it. Mother is finally full, and the people eat black rice every year to commemorate Manglietia's dutiful son. According to the new edition of Compendium of Materia Medica, candle leaves are the leaves of Vaccinium bracteatum, an Ericaceae plant.