Black Rice
Black rice is an ancient variety that isn’t very popular except for desserts. That’s probably because it takes so long to cook compared to most other types of rice. As you can see in the photo, the color isn’t really completely black, nor is it uniform. When you soak the rice, as you must do long before you cook it, the water will turn dark purple.
According to some sources, black rice is the new “super food”, with more antioxidants than blueberries as well as more fiber and less sugar. There’s even an entire web site devoted to the benefits of black rice.
The main drawback to black rice is preparing it. The rice absolutely, positively has to be soaked overnight before cooking. Even then, it will generally take two to three hours to cook the rice. Steaming works best, but for pudding you might get better results boiling the rice. Due to its naturally sweet nutty flavor, black rice is mostly used for desserts, commonly found in Thailand and Indonesia.