"Yes, there must be!"

The boss found a bag of glutinous rice with familiarity, scooped a spoonful from it, and handed it to Li Yi.

Li Yi grabbed a handful from the spoon, observed it, pinched a few more and put them in his mouth, chewed them carefully, tasted the taste, and then nodded: "Well, yes, get me five bags!" ”

"Okay."

The boss turned around and ordered, and Zhao Jinmai in the rear couldn't help but ask curiously: "Is Danyang's glutinous rice good?" ”

"Pretty good, huh?"

Li Yi casually explained: "The wine rice produced in the Danyang area is known as the king of rice, and it has been tribute to the palace for all dynasties.

The local glutinous rice in Danyang is called wine rice, which is used to make rice wine.

"Danyang County Chronicles" has recorded that glutinous rice, Chongming, Shaoxing wine-making, famous wine rice, wine rice out of Sanyang, Danyang is the best proverb.

This means that Danyang's glutinous rice is of the best quality. ”

"The King of Rice?"

Zhao Jinmai couldn't help but speak: "This breath is too big, right?" ”

"It's fine."

Li Yi said with a smile: "In the long glutinous rice, the rice produced in Danyang can be regarded as the first echelon of good rice." ”

"Why is it called long glutinous rice?"

Zhao Jinmai didn't understand: "Is there still short glutinous rice?" ”

"There is no short glutinous rice, only round glutinous rice."

Li Yi explained: "Long glutinous rice is generally produced in the south, and round glutinous rice is produced in the north, which is a popular name, and the official name is japonica glutinous rice and indica glutinous rice. ”

"Japonica?"

Zhao Jinmai was even more confused: "I remember that japonica rice is not boiled porridge?" Why is it wrapped up with glutinous rice again? ”

"That's right."

Li Yi patiently explained: "Glutinous rice is just a popular name, and it does not belong to a separate variety.

Cultivated rice in China is only divided into two subspecies, indica and japonica, both of which have waxy rice and non-waxy rice types.

The viscosity of rice is mainly related to the composition of the starch inside it.

Starch is divided into amylose and amylopectin.

Amylopectin is relatively viscous and can be completely gelatinized into a viscous paste after cooking.

Amylose, on the other hand, can only form a paste with a relatively low viscosity.

Generally, there is more amylose in indica rice, so the viscosity is relatively small.

Japonica rice has a relatively high amylopectin content, so it can gelatinize and become more viscous.

Therefore, japonica rice will be more suitable for boiling porridge, and the porridge will be thicker, which is the kind of white porridge in the south.

Boil with indica rice, boil until the rice blooms, and it can only be boiled into porridge, the rice and soup will be layered, and the rice grains will sink to the bottom, leaving the rice soup on top. ”

Listening to Li Yi's explanation, Zhao Jinmai confirmed his memories and was surprised to find: "Eh? What a thing! When I was a kid, all I drank at home was that layered porridge, which I thought was porridge.

But when I went to the south, I drank the porridge from the south, and it was all very thick white porridge. ”

Wu Lei wondered: "What is porridge?" I've never seen it. ”

Zhao Jinmai explained to him: "It is a translucent rice soup that can be drunk as water." ”

"When to drink?"

Wu Lei couldn't understand: "Our porridge is eaten as a meal." ”

"It's different, it's different."

Zhao Jinmai sighed: "There is a big difference between the south and the north. ”

Huang Xiaoming listened on the sidelines and asked curiously, "What about glutinous rice?" Which type of glutinous rice does it belong to? ”

"Glutinous rice is both."

Li Yi said with a smile: "The long-grain glutinous rice we are talking about belongs to the glutinous rice in indica rice, and the scientific name is long-grain glutinous, also called small glutinous."

Round glutinous rice belongs to the glutinous rice in japonica rice, and the scientific name is lump glutinous, also called big glutinous.

Glutinous rice is a mutant type of rice, which contains 100% amylopectin, so the viscosity is particularly strong.

It is said that the city wall of Jinling is made of granite bricks, and then glutinous rice soup is poured into the brick joints, so it is particularly strong. ”

"Really?"

Wu Lei listened curiously: "Can glutinous rice stick to the city wall?" ”

"It can't be all glutinous rice soup."

Li Yi said with a smile: "Someone has tested that the glue joints are made of tung oil, glutinous rice soup and lime water, but it is indeed glutinous rice that plays the main role of bonding." ”

"It's too strong!"

Wu Lei exclaimed: "Using glutinous rice to build a wall, I thought it was just made up, but I didn't expect it to be true?" ”

Zhao Jinmai listened on the side, still a little puzzled: "I don't understand, since indica rice is all amylose, why is there glutinous rice full of amylopectin?" Isn't that a contradiction? ”

"Not a contradiction."

Li Yi explained with a smile: "In fact, it is because of mutations, and now after research, the academic community has determined that the origin of our cultivated rice is 8,200 years ago through gene sequencing."

At that time, we were growing primitive wild rice.

The appearance of wild rice is closer to indica rice, so the academic community generally identifies indica rice as the basic type.

Later, as the proportion of domesticated rice increased, the primitive wild habit weakened, the yield of rice began to increase, and mutations gradually appeared.

By about 3,900 years ago, primitive rice had differentiated into two subspecies, indica and japonica.

Indica rice retains the appearance and properties close to that of the original rice, and japonica rice, which has mutated a part of amylopectin, has also begun to be isolated and sown separately.

As for the appearance time of glutinous rice, it is uncertain for the time being, but there is already a record of glutinous rice in the "Book of Songs" three thousand years ago.

Therefore, glutinous rice should be the rice species with the highest viscosity that the ancestors began to deliberately collect japonica rice with stronger viscosity after the emergence of japonica rice.

The time when it appeared should be 3,900 years before the appearance of japonica rice, and nearly a thousand years from the appearance of the "Book of Songs". ”

Listening to Li Yi's narration, Zhao Jinmai was already fascinated.

After Li Yi finished speaking, she couldn't help but sigh: "It's amazing!" It sounds a bit like Grandpa Yuan's method of cultivating rice! ”

"It's different."

Li Yi said with a smile: "Grandpa Yuan used three-line hybridization and two-line hybridization to cultivate hybrid rice, and the ancients at that time did not understand this, and used the most primitive and simple seed retention method.

That is, the largest and fullest ears of rice planted in each season are reserved for the seeds of the next season.

In this way, season after season of planting, it takes a long time to complete the excellent breeding. ”

Listening to Li Yi's description, everyone was fascinated.

Everyone seems to have crossed the long river of time and seen the ancestors thousands of years ago, facing the loess with their backs to the sky, diligently planting the original rice.

Even those grains that are not comparable in size and fullness to those of today, they are reluctant to eat them, and they keep the large ones as seeds for the next year.

Liu Yifei couldn't help but sigh: "A thousand years, it's so long!" ”

"yes!"

Huang Xiaoming nodded with a complicated expression: "At that time, it was estimated that people would live for thirty or forty years, and they would already be considered to be long-lived.

It takes 25 generations to breed a new kind of rice in 1,000 years. ”

"It's called an epic!"

Wu Lei took a deep breath and sighed heavily.

Zhao Jinmai rubbed her arms erected with her hair, and she already had goosebumps all over her body.

2

(End of chapter)