Today's Yongzhou News (Correspondent Qin Hao Deng Zhiyu) Every year on the eighth day of the fourth lunar month, Dong'an people have the traditional custom of eating black rice. On this day, every local family has to eat a bowl of black rice. Black rice has also become a seasonal delicacy to entertain friends and family.
Black rice, also known as Lixia rice, has the effect of strengthening the spleen and relieving cough, calming the nerves and eyes, dispelling dampness and repelling mosquitoes, and black hair, and has high health care and medicinal value. Dong'an black rice is made by soaking glutinous rice in the leaf juice of the black rice tree and cooking it through the production process of "nine dips, nine steaming and nine storms". Because of its exquisite production process and cumbersome process, most people now choose to go to the area of Damiaokou Town and Zixi Town to directly buy black rice and black rice water to make it at home, or go to a restaurant to order black rice to taste.
"Just wash this black water, season it again, and steam it in the pot." Hu Yarong, head of Dong'an Yinhua Yuanyin Catering Service Co., Ltd., said to reporters while washing the soaked rice.
In Yinhua Farm, Dong'an County, Hu Yarong, who has nearly 60 years of experience in making black rice, is explaining the steps of making black rice to customers. Customers who come here to eat can also see the process of making black rice up close.
"Those who come to eat here these days must order black rice at every table." Hu Yarong, head of Dong'an Yinhua Yuanyin Catering Service Co., Ltd., said.
"I came here to eat today, watched the whole process of making this black rice, and tasted the black rice, this taste is very good, very delicious." Citizen Li Pengcheng said to reporters.
It is not easy to eat a bite of "black, bright and fragrant" authentic black rice, first you have to go up the mountain to pick fresh black rice leaves, then scrub the fresh black rice leaves by hand, put them in a stone mortar to pound out the purple-black juice, filter the residue with gauze, and soak the selected glutinous rice in it after filtering the residue. Soak overnight, and the essence of the black rice leaves is fully absorbed by the glutinous rice. After cooking, the black rice grains are black and oily, soft and glutinous, smooth and tender, fragrant and delicious.
"The black rice we make is seasoned with eight kinds of plant leaves, such as Baomu incense, black leaves, and full cub incense, plus five kinds of ingredients such as bacon, ginger rice, salt, oil, and kidney beans, and according to the tastes of different people, there are steamed, boiled, and fried." Hu Yarong, head of Dong'an Yinhua Yuanyin Catering Service Co., Ltd., said.
The local area has also innovated the way to eat black rice, and will also wrap raw black rice rice into zongzi leaves to make black rice dumplings, which has become a new choice for local people's food.
"Our black rice can be sold around April 8 (lunar calendar), 15,600 catties, we also launched black rice dumplings, black rice dumplings are deeply loved by everyone, during this period, we can sell 20,000 or 30,000, and it is expected that sales can reach about 200,000." Hu Yarong, head of Dong'an Yinhua Yuanyin Catering Service Co., Ltd., said.