Red Yeast Rice is a bright reddish purple fermented rice, which acquires its color from being cultivated with the mold Monascus purpureus. Red yeast rice is what is referred to as a "koji" in Japanese, meaning "grain or bean overgrown with a mold culture", a food preparation tradition going back to ca. 300 BC. In addition to its culinary use, red yeast rice is also used in Chinese herbology and Traditional Chinese medicine. Recommendations were to take it internally to invigorate the body, aid in digestion, and revitalize the blood.