1. The rice used to cook eight-treasure porridge must be soaked in advance.

2. Generally, soaking for 3-4 hours in summer and 8 to 12 hours in winter is better. This will make it more glutinous and easier to cook.

3. As for brown sugar or rock sugar, it depends on personal preference. Brown sugar is a supplement, while rock sugar will not cause internal heat.

2. Babao, also known as Laba porridge, Buddha porridge, is a traditional Chinese festival food. It is a kind of porridge made from a variety of ingredients during the Laba Festival. "Old Martial Arts" written by Zhou Mi, a scholar in the Southern Song Dynasty, said: "Using walnuts, pine nuts, milk, persimmons, chestnuts, etc. to make porridge is called Laba porridge." It can be used as a dietary therapy for people with obesity and neurasthenia, and it can also be used as a daily health and fitness food.