Ramie

Ramie

　　Ramie refers to rice straw

　　Rice straw is the stalk left after harvesting and threshing mature grain crops, and it has no edible value. A Cantonese saying goes: “Rice straw covers pearls,” which means using something as worthless as straw to conceal precious pearls—implying that wealthy people often don’t flaunt their riches, and their affluence isn’t obvious at first glance. Indeed, not to mention gold, silver, or jewels, even compared to ordinary food items, rice straw is considered a cheap or even lowly material. But rice straw is far from useless. In fact, in terms of having the lowest value yet the widest range of uses, rice straw even surpasses old ginger and dried tangerine peel. Another Cantonese saying about rice straw goes: “Know it, and it’s a treasure; don’t know it, and it’s just grass.” This clearly indicates that whether rice straw (and herbs in general) is seen as “lowly” or “precious” entirely depends on the observer’s knowledge and experience.

　　In fact, the uses of rice straw are extremely diverse, covering clothing, food, housing, and transportation: it can be used as fuel. Unlike the north, where forests are abundant, the Pearl River Delta is crisscrossed with waterways and has very few trees. Not only is it used to grill dog meat outside homes, but villagers also rely heavily on burning rice straw for boiling water, cooking rice, and stir-frying. It can also be used as fertilizer. When plowing fields, farmers turn the leftover rice straw stubble from the previous harvest under the soil. After fermentation, it becomes excellent organic fertilizer, while the ashes left from burning rice straw as fuel become a commonly used potassium-rich inorganic fertilizer—wood ash. It can also serve as emergency fodder. In winter, when fresh grass is scarce, mixing rice straw with sugarcane tops can provide enough feed to help oxen survive the cold season. It can be used as a mat for warmth. In the bitter cold, families lacking warm clothing or bedding will sleep on a layer of rice straw mat woven from straw placed under their bedding, which makes the bed much warmer. It can even be used in house construction. Villagers weave bundles of rice straw mixed with mud paste, hang them on bamboo frames, and stack them layer by layer to form walls. They also build bamboo frames on the walls and lay compressed rice straw thatched with bamboo strips on top to form roofs. Though not as durable as brick houses, they can still shelter from wind and rain. In casting, rice straw ash is often spread over hot molten metal to prevent splashes from injuring people. The straw from glutinous rice can even be used medicinally, treating conditions such as spontaneous sweating, night sweats, and hyperhidrosis, as well as filariasis and infectious hepatitis. The *Compendium of Materia Medica* also records prescriptions using glutinous rice stalks and roots to treat diabetes-related thirst, sore throat and swelling, bloody stools leading to hemorrhoids, and scalds or burns from hot water or fire. Additionally, it has countless other uses such as papermaking, weaving straw sandals, twisting straw ropes, and serving as packaging filler to prevent breakage. Even in today’s plastic-dominated world, you can still see some “stubborn” vegetable farmers in Guangzhou markets using rice straw to tie and sell vegetables—an unfashionable but absolutely economical and eco-friendly practice.