Saveur The True Story of Wild Rice, North America's Most Misunderstood Grain

From: Saveur - Saturday Aug 17, 2019 01:01 pm

The Ojibwe tribe’s annual wild-rice harvest in northern Minnesota

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Saveur

08/17/2019

This week at SAVEUR, contributing editor Amy Thielen takes us behind the scenes of the annual wild-rice harvest on the lakes of northern Minnesota, where the Ojibwe tribe—one of the largest groups of Indigenous people north of Mexico—gather wild rice by canoe and dry it over fire. The harvest takes place during a two-week window in September and includes a three-day celebration of history and tradition called Sahkahtay, which is as much about teaching ricing skills to the next generation as it is about gathering rice.

The rice itself is nothing like the black stuff you find in grocery stores or in countless Thanksgiving stuffing recipes every fall. Real wild rice “is always some shade of luminescent milk brown, or the color of tea spilled onto a saucer,” writes Thielen. “It curls into loose ringlets that pop delicately between your teeth. It tastes the way a morning campfire smells: of smoldering wood coals and lake fog at dawn.” It’s an ingredient worth going out of your way for this weekend; so are our favorite wild rice recipes below.

The True Story of Wild Rice, North America's Most Misunderstood Grain

The Ojibwe people of northern Minnesota are sustained by the real wild rice, which they harvest by hand and dry over fire

Wild Rice Hash with Beef, Lentils, and Sumac-Roasted Tomatoes

Sumac-roasted sungold tomatoes are the perfect tangy counterpoint to this satisfying hash made with wild rice, lentils, and ground beef

Wild Rice with Warm Spiced Carrot Milk

A mound of wild rice is submerged in a pool of carrot milk spiced with turmeric, cardamom, and cinnamon, then served with plumped dried fruit and crunchy roasted hazelnuts

Polenta with Corn and Wild Rice

Wild rice adds a toasty nuttiness to polenta, its creamy sweetness heightened with freshly puréed corn. Serve as a side dish or vegetarian main course

Wild Rice With Roasted Buttered Onions

Shareable, family-style buttery roasted onions with aromatic wild rice

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