Milled rice is white, but the outer bran layer can be brown, red or black. In the case of black rice, the raw grains look charred and the cooked ones are the color of blackberries.

Black rice is one of several black-colored heirloom plants producing rice variants such as Indonesian Black Rice, forbidden rice, or wild rice. High in nutritional and medicinal value, forbidden rice is rich in iron and considered a blood tonifier. Unlike other black rice from Asia, it is not glutinous or rough.