Think that you have some wild rice in your pantry? Maybe you do. It says wild rice on the bag. But more then likely what you have is long grain patty rice. Labeling requirements for wild rice are sketchy at best. Paul Red Elk, ricer and rice parcher, from Northern Lakes Wild Rice and Maple Syrup is quick to point out that there is a big difference between patty grown, machine harvested long grain rice and naturally growing hand harvested wild rice.
“Each year cultivated rice needs to be planted. Cultivated rice is chemically treated with pesticides or other chemicals. Our traditional wild rice is not loaded up with chemicals.”
He goes on to point out that the makeup of the rice itself is vastly different, “All cultivated wild rice is actually two brown rice genes bred with one gene of wild rice. The commercial growers want uniform and predictable rice. Cultivated wild rice is uniform in size shape and form. There are no broken rice grains, or slightly different rice color like you find in traditional rice. So it’s more of a brown rice rather than a wild rice grain.”
Northern Lakes wild rice is all hand harvested with ricing sticks in canoes on lakes where it grows naturally about 60 miles from the Twin Cities. It is then hand finished. Paul has a display of the ricing tools as well as some of the pre-finished rice available to look at in his booth each week at the Mill City Farmers Market. He also has a wealth of information about the skill and hard work that goes into each bag of wild rice that he sells.
“For generations, Native American Indians have been hand harvesting our sacred wild rice in canoes in northern Minnesota lakes, and rivers. Native families hand finished this unique aquatic plant with wood fired heat giving it a very light nutty flavor. Our native wild rice cooks up in 30 minutes as apposed to patty rice that has a 45 to 60 minute cooking time.”
Quicker, tastier, and more environmentally friendly, Northern Lakes Wild Rice is available each Saturday at the Mill City Farmers Market.
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