What is sprouted rice(Gu Ya)? Instead of the most popular sprouted brown rice, medicinally it refers to the dried sprouting rice grains of Oryza sativa L. or Setaria italica (L.) Beauv., the plants in the family Gramineae. Other common names of this herb include rice sprout, fructus oryzae germinatus, rice paddy sprouts, fructus oryzae setariae germinatus, fructus setariae germinatus, oryza sativa fruit, sprouted millet, setariae germinatus, rice-grain sprout, millet sprout, germinated rice, and so on. In China, it can be produced nationwide, in particular in southern provinces. For medicinal purpose, they need to be soaked in water under the condition of proper temperature and humidity and dried when their fibrous roots grow to about 1cm long. It can be used raw or fried.
The final product is similar to spherosome, about 2mm in diameter, and with obtuse top and slightly pointed base. Husk is leathery shell pieces, pale yellow in color, and with point-like wrinkles. The lower end has the nascent thin fibrous roots, which is about 3 to 10mm long. When peeled it contains a piece of pale or yellowish-white caryopsis or millet. It is odorless and slightly sweet in taste.
Sprouted rice benefits
Main chemical constituents include protein, fatty oil, starch, amylase, maltose, adenine, choline, and 18 amino acids like aspartic acid and γ-aminobutyric acid. Thanks to its health benefits and richness in nutrients it is cooked into tons of tasty foods these days, such as bread, cakes, cereal, crackers, flour, salad, sushi, tortillas, and more. As you can see, apparently people eating sprouted rice is for the sake of not only delicacy but also healing. And its pharmacology can reveal this fact.
Modern rice sprouts pharmacological actions
1. Its β-amylase can completely hydrolyze starch into sugar;
2. Its α-amylase can hydrolyze starch into short straight-chain polyglucose;
3. It contains less α and β-amylase. And its ability of digesting starch is poorer than that of malt.