Black rice, also known as purple rice or forbidden rice, can refer to more than 20 varieties of Oryza sativa rice high in anthocyanin pigment, the same antioxidant pigment that gives eggplants and blackberries their deep color. Black rice is almost always sold as a whole grain, with the outermost layer of bran intact, making black rice technically a type of brown, or unrefined, rice.

The raw, uncooked grains look black, while cooked or soaked grains look purple—the result of the dark bran mixing with the white endosperm. Although they look similar, black rice is not related to wild rice, a grain of the genus Zizania. Instead, it’s a true rice: an heirloom rice variety that gets its color from the same type of mutation that affects red rice.