Saponia rice is the fruit of the honey locust.

Japonica rice is commonly known as snow lotus seeds, saponin kernels, saponin essence, chicken qizi, saponin, large acacia, long acacia, hanging knife, long saponin, large saponin, and black rhinoceros. It is the fruit of the acacia locust. Honey locust rice is divided into single pods and double pods, which are the seeds of the leguminous plant Honey Locust. Harvest the fruits when they are ripe in autumn, peel off the seeds and dry them in the sun. Insect-proof. Usually single-pod saponin rice is distributed in Tengchong and Lianghe, Yunnan. It is wild in high mountains and is the most abundant in the world. Double-pod saponin rice is distributed in Henan, Sichuan and parts of South China, and is also distributed in small quantities.

At present, there are very few large companies selling saponin rice in China, and most of them are produced and sold by farmers themselves. The dried seeds are oblong in shape, with one end slightly narrow and pointed, 11 to 13 mm long, 7 to 8 mm wide, and about 7 mm thick. The surface is tan, smooth and shiny, with a slightly concave dot-like hilum at the narrower end, which is sometimes not very obvious. After the seed coat is peeled off, two large bright yellow cotyledons can be seen. The texture is extremely hard, the odor is slight, and the taste is light. The ones with full, solid particles, no impurities, and no insects are the best.

Classification and difference of saponin rice:

Types: single-pod rice and double-pod rice.

Difference: Honey locust tree, up to 15m high. The spines are thick, usually branched, up to 16cm long, and cylindrical. One even-numbered pinnate compound leaves, 12-18cm long, with 6-14 leaflets, oblong, oblong to ovate-lanceolate, 3-8cm long, 1.5-3.5cm wide, with blunt or acuminate apex. The base is obliquely round or wedge-shaped. The double-pod saponin rice produced is mostly the acacia seeds produced by the acacia tree in Henan and Shandong. The grains are relatively full and the color is natural light yellow. After cooking, it tastes softer, chewier and more soupy. Sticky. The foaming rate can reach 5-8 times.

Most of the single pods are grown wild in Hehua Town and Lianghe, Tengchong, Yunnan, and few are cultivated. The seeds are as thin as nails, slightly white in color, and have a smooth taste. The foaming rate is much higher than that of double pod.