Priceless goodness of black rice comes cheap

As the blogosphere stirs over black rice as the new low-cost superfood, WalletPop yearned to enter the foodie frenzy over this antioxidant-rich, go-to grain.

Given that black rice contains as many anthocyanin antioxidants in 10 cooked teaspoons as in one spoonful of fresh blueberries, according to a new study, I set out to compare the two in disease-fighting value. A superfood smackdown if you will.

The results are encouraging for budget-conscious rice lovers: Black rice costs a third of the price of blueberries in delivering the same amount of anthocyanins. That mouthful of syllables are the purple and reddish pigmented antioxidants believed to improve heart health and help prevent cancer.

I did the research by purchasing the ingredients, cooking the rice, and then applying some eighth grade math. I worked in grams because ounce fractions don't translate well.

It's off-season, so the cheapest fresh blueberries available at my local produce specialist in Brooklyn, N.Y. were $3.49 for 170 grams (6 ounces). A heaping spoonful weighed 17 grams, 10% of the contents. 10% of $3.49 equals about 35 cents.