FIGURE 1.

The production processes of Xiaoqu and the shapes of six Xiaoqu samples. (A) The production processes of Xiaoqu. The primary raw material is rice, and others also include cereal or Chinese herbs. Rice is soaked in water for 2–3 h then drained and ground into rice flour. The rice flour with or without herbal powder is mixed with Qumu powder and water (60%), then manually molded into different shapes (sphere, quadrate, cake-like, etc.). Sanqu was produced using an automatic starter-making disk machine without molding step (Wang et al., 2018). Xiaoqu was stored in a Qu house, namely a cultivation room, for approximately 4 days at 28–34°C. Mature Xiaoqu is obtained after drying, maturation, and storage. (B) The shapes of six Xiaoqu samples. Xiaoqu samples were labeled as N, S, SW-PY, SW-XL, SW-XX, and W, corresponding to their collection from northern, southern, southwestern (Panzhou country), southwestern (Liguan of Xingren country), southwestern (Xiaojiawan of Xingren country), and western region of the Guizhou province.