Five-Color Glutinous Rice (Wuse Nuomi Fan)

Made from glutinous rice steeped in the natural juices of Chinese maple leaves, turmeric, red indigo plant and other plants to produce black, red, yellow, white and purple portions, then steamed together; the result is visually vivid and fragrant, the five colors symbolizing harvest and good fortune.

Five-color glutinous rice is a traditional Zhuang festive food made in large quantities especially for the Zhuang San Yue San festival (third day of the third lunar month) and Qingming; it is an important ritual food through which the Zhuang people express reverence for ancestors and gratitude to nature.

Eaten hot or warm, it can be pinched off in small portions by hand, offered as a ritual food or exchanged as a gift. At San Yue San festival gatherings, five-color rice appears alongside sour fish and roasted pork as centerpieces of the feast.

Dyed with five natural plant pigments, this Zhuang glutinous rice is one of the most visually recognizable symbols of Zhuang culture in Guangxi.