The dish is a featured food of the Yunnan Dai ethnic group. The rice needs to be soaked in water for seven to eight hours before being steamed in a hollowed pineapple.

Yunnan Dai's pineapple purplish black glutinous rice.[Photo/Xinhua]

The rice tastes a bit sweet after absorbing the flavor of the pineapple, and is said to enrich the blood and lungs.