bubble_chart Source

This product is derived from the mycelium and spores of the fungus Monascus purpureus (Monascus purpureus Went) of the Aspergillaceae family. It is artificially cultivated, allowing the mycelium to grow inside rice, ultimately turning the entire grain red. This fungus is commonly found in dairy products and can also be artificially cultivated using rice as a medium to produce Fermented Red Rice. It is distributed in regions such as Hebei, Jiangxi, Zhejiang, Taiwan, Fujian, and Guangdong.

bubble_chart Morphological Characteristics

Fermented Red Rice appears as irregular granular particles, resembling rice, with a purplish-red or dark red surface and a purplish-red cross-section. In cases of incomplete fermentation, a pink or white rice core may be visible. It is brittle and easily crumbled, with a slight sour odor and a mild taste. The best quality is characterized by a thoroughly red and crisp texture, free from impurities. Under a stereomicroscope, the surface appears rough with fine granular particles, some of which are covered with pink fuzz. The cross-section shows a honeycomb-like structure around the edges, with a slightly flat center and radial stripes, exhibiting a keratinized luster.

bubble_chart Properties and Meridians

Sweet neutral, nontoxic, act on spleen, stomach, liver and large intestine channels.

• Yinshan Zhengyao: "sweet neutral, nontoxic".
• Benjing Fengyuan: "sweet, slightly bitter and acrid, neutral".
• Bencao Gangmu: "sweet warm, nontoxic".
• Bencao Biandu: "Sweet warm, act on spleen and stomach channels blood".
• Depei Bencao: "act on foot yangming and taiyin channels blood fraction".
• "Chinese materia medica processing of materia medica": "act on liver and large intestine channels".

bubble_chart Efficacy

It can promote the digestion and transportation of the spleen and stomach, detoxify cold and raw foods. Its color is purplish-red, rich in color, aroma, and taste, which can enhance appetite. It is also used as a food seasoning and natural food coloring. During the Song Dynasty, Fermented Red Rice was already used to make red yeast rice, brew yellow wine, and produce red fermented bean curd (soybean curd). The "Qing Yi Lu" from the early Song Dynasty records "cooking meat with Fermented Red Rice." In Taiwan, Fermented Red Rice is a primary ingredient in Shaoxing wine and aged red wine.

• Bencao Gangmu: "Promotes digestion and activates blood circulation, strengthens the spleen and dries the stomach, treats red and white dysentery, and eliminates water and grain."
• Comprehensive Dictionary of Chinese Medicine: "Invigorating blood and resolving stasis, invigorating the spleen and promoting digestion; treats postpartum lochia that is not clean, stagnant abdominal pain, and food accumulation causing bloating."

bubble_chart Documentation

1. Riyong Bencao: "Fermented Red Rice is used for brewing wine, breaking blood stasis, promoting the efficacy of medicine, killing miasma, and treating injuries from falls and impacts."
2. Bencao Gangmu: "It aids digestion, activates blood circulation, strengthens the spleen, and dries the stomach. It is used to treat women's blood and qi pain and postpartum lochia."
3. "Nei Wai Shang Pian": "For women postpartum with triple energizer dampness-heat, diarrhea, and abdominal pain, it is advisable to fry five qian of Fermented Red Rice, form it into pills with rice, add one liang of Trogopterus Dung, and then take it with blood-nourishing and spleen-stomach-tonifying medicine."

bubble_chart Cautions and Contraindications

Pregnant women, lactating women, infants, those with yin deficiency with effulgent fire, no retention of food, and no static blood should avoid it. Do not drink grapefruit juice or eat grapefruit when consuming Fermented Red Rice.

• Shennong Bencao Jingshu: "It has the property of digestion and elimination, those without retention of food should not use it, it is good at breaking blood stasis, those without static blood are prohibited from using it."
• Bencao Congxin: "Avoid using it with Medicated Leaven, those with spleen yin deficiency and excessive stomach fire should not use it, as it can harm the fetus."
• 《Medicinal Materia Medica》: "Those with yin deficiency and excessive stomach fire, and no food accumulation or stasis should not use it."

Fermented Red Rice contains Monacolin K, which belongs to the statin class of drugs like Lovastatin. It should not be taken with other statin drugs (such as Atorvastatin, Fluvastatin, Pravastatin, and Rosuvastatin) to avoid increasing side effects. Avoid using it with fibrate lipid-lowering drugs (such as Fenofibrate and Gemfibrozil) to prevent rhabdomyolysis. It is not recommended for those with abnormal liver function indices, those with liver damage due to long-term alcohol abuse, or those currently taking antifungal drugs (Triazole class), immunosuppressants (Cyclosporine class), or Erythromycin.

bubble_chart Processing and Storage

The brewing process includes the following steps: soaking rice, steaming rice, cooling rice, inoculation, kneading koji, spreading, spraying water and mixing koji, and drying. Depending on different processing methods of materia medica, Fermented Red Rice can be categorized into prepared Fermented Red Rice, stir-fried Fermented Red Rice, and Fermented Red Rice charcoal. Stir-frying to scorch enhances its effects of reducing stagnation and relieving diarrhea, and the raw product can also be used directly in clinical practice. The processed Fermented Red Rice charcoal resembles Fermented Red Rice in shape, with a black outer layer and an old yellow interior, emitting a charred aroma.

• Bencao Gangmu: "The rice that has its core penetrated is called raw yellow, and when added to wine or vinegar, it appears vividly red and lovely. Rice that has not had its core penetrated is not as good. The red that penetrates the core of the rice is better when aged."
• Paozhi Dafa: "Aged ones are better, clean them by blowing, stir-fry, and then grind for use."
• Comprehensive Dictionary of Chinese Medicine: "Clean Fermented Red Rice: sift out the ash and remove impurities; Fermented Red Rice charcoal: place clean Fermented Red Rice in a hot pan, stir-fry over strong fire until the exterior turns black and the interior turns old yellow, then spray with clean water and cool."