There are many methods for rice classification, which can generally be divided into three categories according to rice quality characteristics: glutinous rice, indica rice and japonica rice. Rice starch can be divided into straight chain and branched chain. The more amylopectin, the higher the viscosity after cooking. The content of amylopectin in glutinous rice is close to 1%, so it has the highest viscosity. About 2% of indica rice is amylose, while that of japonica rice is below 15%.
glutinous rice
can be divided into japonica glutinous rice and indica glutinous rice. The appearance of japonica glutinous rice is round and short, while that of indica glutinous rice is slender and the color is white and opaque. Cooked rice is soft and sticky. Usually, japonica glutinous rice is used for wine making and rice cakes. Indica glutinous rice is used in eight-treasure porridge and zongzi.
indica rice
has slender appearance and high transparency. After cooking, the rice is dry and loose. Usually used for radish cake, rice flour and fried rice.
Japonica rice
is round, short and transparent in appearance (some varieties of rice have local powdery quality). Cooking characteristics are between glutinous rice and indica rice. Use for general rice.