But why do some people refer it as purple rice instead of black rice? Essentially they both mean the same thing. The only real difference would be the shades of rice depending on how much black rice you add to your base rice (i.e. white rice) when cooking. The color shades of purple can be light to deep dark purple.

When raw, it is actually black in colour, and is sometimes also referred to as black rice, but when cooked it turns a deep purple, the colour of eggplant or kidney beans. In Korea it is cooked alongside white rice grains for a paler lilac hue.