Zailai rice () is a

cultivar A cultivar is a kind of Horticulture, cultivated plant that people have selected for desired phenotypic trait, traits and which retains those traits when Plant propagation, propagated. Methods used to propagate cultivars include division, root a ...

rice Rice is a cereal grain and in its Domestication, domesticated form is the staple food of over half of the world's population, particularly in Asia and Africa. Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice)—or, much l ...

derived from the subspecies ''Oryza sativa'' subsp. ''indica'', or

indica rice ''Oryza sativa'', having the common name Asian cultivated rice, is the much more common of the two rice species cultivated as a cereal, the other species being ''Oryza glaberrima, O. glaberrima'', African rice. It was History of rice cultivation ...

, traditionally grown in

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

. It is one of three major types of rice planted and consumed in Taiwan, the other two being

penglai rice Penglai rice ( zh, 蓬萊米, ), also called Ponglai or Hōrai rice, is the most popular List of rice cultivars, rice cultivar in Taiwan. It accounts for over 90% of local rice production, far more than the two other major types of rice planted an ...

and

glutinous rice Domestication syndrome refers to two sets of phenotypic traits that are common to either domesticated plants or domesticated animals. Domesticated animals tend to be smaller and less aggressive than their wild counterparts; they may also hav ...

. The name "zailai" is derived from the Japanese "ざいらい" meaning "existing", to distinguish it from the penglai rice hybrids developed by the colonizers when Taiwan was under Japanese colonial rule. Zailai rice cultivars can be sub-divided into soft (''e.g.'' "Taichung Sen No. 10") and hard (''e.g.'' "Taichung Sen No. 17") indica rice varieties. Zailai rice cultivation in Taiwan began in the 17th century during the

Dutch Formosa The island of Taiwan, also commonly known as ''Formosa'', was partly under colonial rule by the Dutch Republic from 1624 to 1662 and from 1664 to 1668. In the context of the Age of Discovery, the Dutch East India Company established its presence ...

period, when the Dutch introduced indica rice and

water buffalo The water buffalo (''Bubalus bubalis''), also called domestic water buffalo, Asian water buffalo and Asiatic water buffalo, is a large bovid originating in the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia. Today, it is also kept in Italy, the Balkans ...

to the island; the

Hokkien Hokkien ( , ) is a Varieties of Chinese, variety of the Southern Min group of Chinese language, Chinese languages. Native to and originating from the Minnan region in the southeastern part of Fujian in southeastern China, it is also referred ...

immigrants from the

Fujian Fujian is a provinces of China, province in East China, southeastern China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, Guangdong to the south, and the Taiwan Strait to the east. Its capital is Fuzhou and its largest prefe ...

area in

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

also imported different strains of indica rice. Subsequently, zailai rice was planted around the island by military settlements of the

Kingdom of Tungning The Kingdom of Tungning, also known as Tywan, was a dynastic maritime state that ruled part of southwestern Taiwan and the Penghu islands between 1661 and 1683. It is the first predominantly ethnic Han state in Taiwanese history. At its z ...

. Zailai rice is a long-grained variety that contains less than 80% of

amylopectin Amylopectin is a water-insoluble polysaccharide and highly branched polymer of α-glucose units found in plants. It is one of the two components of starch, the other being amylose. Plants store starch within specialized organelles called amyloplas ...

, making it less sticky than penglai rice and glutinous rice, suitable for making

rice vermicelli Rice vermicelli is a thin form of rice noodle. It is sometimes referred to as "rice noodles" or "rice sticks", but should not be confused with cellophane noodles, a different Asian type of vermicelli made from mung bean starch or rice starch r ...

turnip cake Turnip cake is a Chinese dim sum dish. The less common name radish cake is more accurate, as Western-style turnips are not used in the dish but rather shredded radish (typically Chinese radish) and plain rice flour. It is traditionally called ...

silver needle noodles Silver needle noodle (), rat noodle (), ''bee tai bak'' (), runny nose vermicelli () or ''lot'' (), giam ee () is a variety of Chinese noodle.Amy ChenShort Rice Noodles / Lao Shu Fen 老鼠粉 - MaMaChineseCooking.comor លត lot in Khmer . ...

, he fen, 碗粿, ''etc''.

References

{{reflist Rice varieties