Wild rice, also known as carved rice, carved rice, carved hu, carved rice, wild sorghum, anhu, black rice, etc., is a very ancient food crop. It dates back more than 3,000 years and was cultivated during the Zhou Dynasty and consumed by emperors. In the Qin and Han dynasties, wild rice was also widely cultivated, and was called the "six grains" together with the six grain crops of millet, millet, millet, sorghum and wheat.
Wild rice is native to China and belongs to the subfamily of Poaceae and the fruit of the genus Rice Mushroom. Unlike ordinary rice, wild rice is larger and longer, and the fruit is cylindrical in shape, with an average length of about 12 mm, making it the longest rice in the world.
Wild rice is unique in its color, which is reddish-black in color unlike ordinary white rice, because it contains a natural dye called mushroom, which was commonly used to dye food in ancient times.
During the Tang Dynasty, wild rice was still very popular, and many medical works have documented it. However, after the Song Dynasty, wild rice gradually faded out of the category of food, and few people cultivated and ate it, and gradually became a wild plant.
This is mainly due to the fact that wild rice is susceptible to a bacterium called smut, which prevents it from flowering and bearing fruit. Its growth Xi is similar to that of rice and needs to be grown in lakes, rivers and paddy fields. However, the infection of smut bacteria causes the rhizome of the wild rice to be deformed, and it is unable to flower and bear fruit. Due to the lack of control methods in ancient times, farmers could not harvest once they were infected.
In addition, the yield of wild rice is low and harvesting is troublesome. Compared with cereal crops such as wheat and rice, the yield of wild rice is lower. Moreover, the ripening of wild rice is not a one-time thing, and it needs to be harvested in batches, otherwise it will fall off quickly. This has caused more trouble for farmers. After picking, it also needs to go through many processes such as drying, rubbing off the skin, and removing impurities, which is very cumbersome.
Therefore, with the widespread cultivation of rice, wheat and other grains, wild rice has gradually faded out of China's grain circle. In the southern region, wild rice was cultivated as a vegetable, and another world was formed, becoming one of the "Eight Immortals of Water".
Although wild rice originated in China and was once popular, it became popular abroad and is still cultivated in large quantities today. Most of the wild rice eaten in China is imported from the United States, and there are no local varieties of wild rice in China. There are wild mushroom resources in China, but they have not yet been domesticated and cultivated.
Wild rice has a high nutritional value and is the highest among rice varieties. Its protein is rich in amino acids, vitamins and minerals, and also contains a variety of trace elements. Wild rice is much higher in dietary fiber than rice, and it is a rare health food.
Wild rice can be eaten in a variety of ways such as cooking rice, stir-frying, and stewing soups. When cooking rice, it is necessary to soak for 5-8 hours in advance, and it is recommended to have a ratio of 1:3 to water. When stir-frying, you also need to soak and then add vegetables to stir-fry. The stew only needs to be washed, not soaked. Wild rice can also be mixed with other foods, such as mixed with rice or added to salads, pizzas, etc.
Overall, wild rice is a nutritious and unique food crop that, although gradually forgotten in China, is still widely cultivated and recognized abroad.