Su Ya (Gu Ya)

Su Ya is the sprouted (malted) ripe grain of foxtail millet, Setaria italica (L.) P.Beauv., an annual grass in the Poaceae cultivated across China and much of temperate Eurasia. The parent plant is an erect bunch-forming annual 0.6-1.5 m tall, with hollow culms, alternate flat lance-linear leaves 20-45 cm long and 1-3 cm wide, and a dense, cylindrical, bristly panicle 10-30 cm long bearing numerous small one-flowered spikelets that mature into rounded to ovoid yellow, orange, or reddish caryopses about 1-2 mm long. To prepare Su Ya, the cleaned mature grain is steeped in water until uniformly imbibed and then allowed to germinate in a warm, moist environment until the radicle emerges to a length of about 2-5 mm; the sprouted grain is then dried.