Food Facial

I’m no stranger to homemade beauty remedies thanks to growing up in a traditional Asian family. I remember as soon as I hit the acne-prone age, my mum would make sure that I slather my face with some bedak sejuk (means cold powder in Malay) which mainly made of fermented rice. When rice is soaked and fermented in water (for a year or two – in the meantime changing the water on a daily basis), its becomes thick  paste and  is left under the sun until as hard and dry as rock salt. The commercial version comes in white beaded pearls looking like tapioca pearls (the large ones) but since mine was homemade, using a teaspoon, we spooned the paste over a tray to dry for days along with some fresh pandan leaves ( it’s like an Asian version of vanilla bean).

{That’s exactly how I remember my homemade bedak sejuk – photo courtesy of My Life My Thoughts}

I must say the worst thing about making this at home is the moment you unscrew the bottle to drain the fermented rice. It stinks like crazy and it’s a stench you’ll remember forever. That said, once the bedak sejuk is ready for application (you rehydrate the dried pieces with some water, put it on your face until it dries and becomes powdery – then you just wipe if off with your hands as if  like talcum powder) , all it’s left is the sweet scented pandan which is not as dreadful as before. Oh thank goodness for that – I have to sleep with my face covered with this stuff!