With Meishi, Chenab takes you on a journey through the Orient by bringing for you authentic ingredients for Cuisines from China, Thailand, Vietnam, Japan, Indonesia, Malaysia. Great for traditional Asian recipes made in professional or home kitchens. Meishi offers you Thai black rice. Thailand is known as “The Rice Bowl of Asia”. With that, you can already guess the importance of rice to the Thai people. Thai black rice, Riceberry is one of the popular rice varieties in Thailand, a cross of two renowned rice strains in the country. Riceberry is a cultivar of rice that was created by hybridizing Hom Nil (black jasmine rice) with Khao Dok Mali 105 (another type of jasmine rice). Unlike most varieties of rice, Riceberry has a strong fragrance that’s savory and almost meaty in the aroma. Because it’s a whole grain rice, the bran gives it a similar texture to brown rice; however, the interior is tender, nutty and a little sweet. It’s a long grain rice that has a reddish black color when raw, that turns purplish black when cooked. Because Riceberry is a whole grain rice, the bran and germ have not been milled off; however, unlike brown rice, it cooks in the same amount of time as white rice. The purple hue of this rice is caused by anthocyanins, which are a naturally occurring pigment and antioxidant. Riceberry differs from other whole grains – it cooks relatively fast and is prepared the same as jasmine rice.