midwestern Great Lakes region of North
America, where it grows in shallow lakes and
marshes and was gathered in canoes by the
Ojibway and other native peoples. It’s the
only cereal from North America to have
become important as a human food. Wild rice
is unusual among the cereals for containing
double the usual amount of moisture at
maturity, around 40% of the kernel weight. It
thus requires more elaborate processing than
true rice in order to be stored. It’s first
matured in moist piles for a week or two,
during which immature grains continue to
ripen and microbes grow on the grain
surfaces, generating flavor and weakening the
husks. Then it is parched over a fire to dry the
grain, flavor it, and make the husk brittle; and
finally it’s threshed to remove the husk.
Texture and Flavor Wild rice has a firm,
chewy texture thanks to its intact bran layer
and the parching process, which gelates and