Eight-treasure rice, also known as glutinous rice eight-treasure rice, is a kind of holiday food eaten on Laba Day or during the Chinese New Year. Eight-treasure rice refers to eight kinds of ingredients such as lotus seeds, longan, kumquat, red dates, honey cherries or honey wax gourd, coix seed, melon seeds, red berries or green plums, and the eight-treasure rice made of glutinous rice symbolizes the good wishes of marriage harmony, reunion, good luck and sweetness.
The origin of babao rice
1, Legend has it that Zhou Wuwang overthrew the Shang Dynasty with the help of eight sages, namely, Boda, Boshi, Zhongtu, Zhonghu, Uncle Night, Uncle Summer, Ji Sui and Ji Cheat. At the celebration banquet, people made an eight-treasure meal to celebrate the occasion.
2. Legend has it that a general in the Song Dynasty was defeated and went to a ruined temple. When he was hungry and cold, he chased rats and dug a nest. In the rat hole, he got several handfuls of winter rations for rats, including eight kinds of food such as rice, millet, red dates and lotus seeds. He cooked a pot of rice for wok with a censer and survived. Later, he made eight-treasure rice every year to commemorate this event, so it was handed down.
3. According to legend, the eight-treasure rice was created by Xiao Dai, the royal chef of Empress Dowager Cixi in the late Qing Dynasty. Later, Xiao Dai lived in Jingzhou City and was taken in by the owner of Juzhen Garden, so the eight-treasure rice became a traditional dish of Juzhen Garden in Jingzhou.