The history of eating rice can be traced back to the fairy tales in the pre-Qin period.
Legend has it that Shennong, who tasted all kinds of herbs, was the first recorded person to eat rice in the history of China mythology. At that time, he invented the method of "burning grain on stone" to make rice, which is still used in Shanxi. Stone cakes, a famous snack in Shanxi, use this ancient cooking method.
Although the story of Shennong eating rice is only a historical legend in the eyes of modern people, it was discovered by the archaeological team of China in 1973 at Hemudu Site in Yuyao City, Zhejiang Province.
It is proved that the ancestors in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River in China had mastered the cultivation techniques of rice as early as 7000 years ago, and had eaten rice as the main grain, which directly proved that China was the earliest country to grow rice in the world history.
There are three kinds of rice we eat in our daily life: indica rice, japonica rice and glutinous rice. The two kinds of rice we eat most often in our daily life are indica rice and japonica rice, and glutinous rice appears in our daily diet as a "blend" of dessert types, such as zongzi, glutinous rice balls, rice cakes, rice wine and so on. Japonica rice and indica rice, two widely eaten rice, have the same nutritional value, but they are different in viscosity, planting difference, flavor and many other aspects.
tangyuan
Southerners are used to eating indica rice, while northerners prefer japonica rice, so people argue about the love of these two kinds of rice just like sweet zongzi and salty zongzi. So which is better?
In fact, which tastes better is not a very subjective question, just like Shakespeare's famous saying.
There will be a thousand Hamlets in the eyes of a thousand readers. -Shakespeare
Everyone has different tastes, and their love for that kind of rice is also very different.
So what is the specific difference between japonica rice and indica rice? Which kind of rice tastes better? More nutritious?
From the appearance, the appearance of indica rice is long oval or slender, and its length is about 3~5 times of its width, so it is also called long grain rice. The color of indica rice is white and transparent, but it is also translucent and opaque.
polished white rice
According to the different harvest time, the types of indica rice are also divided into early indica rice and late indica rice.
Early indica rice is short, generous, white in color, big in belly and rich in flour, so the texture of early indica rice is very fragile and easily broken during processing. The viscosity is less than that of late indica rice, and the quality is poor.
Late indica rice grains are flat and slender, generally translucent or transparent in color, with small white belly and many hard grains, which are not easy to be broken during processing, and the viscosity is higher than that of early indica rice, and the quality is the best among indica rice varieties.
Japonica rice is also called round grain rice because of its round shape. Japonica rice is plump, oval or oval in overall shape, nearly round in cross section, hard in texture and innocent in color. The cooked rice oil is sweet and fragrant. The most famous "Wuchang rice" is a japonica rice.
Unshelled japonica rice
Planting area Indica rice is suitable for planting in low latitudes, such as Thailand, Myanmar, Vietnam and southern China, which is the most typical representative. Most of the indica rice planted in southern China belongs to double-season rice or three-season rice, which means that it can be harvested two or three times a year, and the yield is amazing. It is planted in seven provinces and cities in southern China.
Japonica rice is suitable for planting in high latitude or low latitude areas, because high latitude is obviously different from indica rice. Japonica rice can only be harvested once a year. Northeast China is the main planting area of japonica rice, and Heilongjiang is also the largest grain-producing province in China.
Because the areas where the two kinds of rice grow are slightly different, the "characteristics" in rice are also different. The so-called "characteristics" are simply the differences in starch contained in two kinds of rice.
There are two kinds of starch in rice, one is called amylose. If the amylose content in rice starch is low, the taste of rice will be hard and inelastic.
Another kind of starch is called amylopectin. The higher the amylopectin content of rice, the greater the viscosity of rice, and the swelling and fullness of cooked rice. Therefore, the taste of rice is completely determined by the structure of the two starch contents.
The amylose content of southern indica rice is generally between 20% and 24%, so it tastes soft, while that of northeast japonica rice is about 15- 18%, so the taste of northeast rice is famous for its elastic lubrication.
In terms of nutrition, there are many differences in nutritional value between japonica rice and indica rice because of their different growth time.
Compared with the north, the temperature difference between day and night in the south is small. Compared with japonica rice, the growth cycle of indica rice is much shorter, generally maturing in about three to five months. The nutrient accumulation of most crops mainly comes from the accumulation of time, just like medicinal materials, which is why the longer the years, the better the efficacy of medicinal materials.
So is rice. The longer it grows, the more nutrients it absorbs. The growth cycle of northeast rice is generally about five months, and some varieties are even about six months. Therefore, the contents of vitamin B2, dietary fiber, vitamin B 1, vitamin E, calcium and other trace elements in japonica rice are much higher than those in indica rice.
In fact, there is no such fixed good or bad food as rice. Whether it is indica rice or japonica rice, as long as you like to eat it, it is good rice.