"The rice fruit is our 'golden fruit'"

Nanchang, 28 Jan (Xinhua) -- "Eat it while it's hot..." Zhong Tianfa of Madi Village, Wantian Township, Ruijin City, Jiangxi Province, greeted his four grandchildren for dinner. The freshly steamed Huangyuan rice nuts on the dinner table are steaming hot and shiny, revealing the joy of the year.

Not playing rice nuts but not old, is the tradition of Madi Village. Near the New Year, the neighbors make a date, the wood in the hearth is exuberant, the cauldron is steaming, and the rice becomes a soft grain of rice. The golden lye water is poured in, the white rice changes back to the color of the rice, and after steaming, it is poured into the stone mortar, and people gather around and take advantage of the heat to make some tricks.

Huangyuan rice fruit originated in the Tang Dynasty, flourished in the Ming Dynasty, and was listed as a royal tribute during the Southern Song Dynasty. The quality of the rice fruit depends on two major raw materials, one is pure grain and the other is pure wood alkali water. Madi Village has always retained the traditional practice of relying on wood alkali water to preserve freshness, and no preservatives are added to the rice fruit, and the local Huang Yuanchai can extract such plant alkali.

"In the past, rice nuts were not commodities, just their own New Year goods, and one family made up to two or three hundred catties." Zhong Tianlian, who first opened a rice fruit processing factory in the village, said that after the village chose to develop the rice fruit industry in 2015, the trademark was registered for madi rice fruit, and the villagers' own New Year goods gradually became hot-selling local specialties.

Liu Haidong, head of the Wanfeng Dahegu Professional Planting Cooperative, is particularly confident in the future of Huangyuan rice fruit, and now the whole village can produce nearly two million kilograms of Yellow Yuan rice fruit a year.

Wu Kerong, secretary of the party branch of Madi Village, said that 30 poor households in the village have joined the Wanfeng Dahegu Professional Planting Cooperative. "The year of planting the big grain can achieve an increase in income, and more than 20 poor households rely on rice fruits to get rid of poverty."

"My family planted 5 acres of large grain this year, and the income from selling rice fruits is 17,000 yuan. Rice is planted in the spring and harvested in the autumn, and rice fruits are made in the winter. Zhong Tianfa said, "Rice fruit is our 'golden fruit'."