Title: About Wild Rice
Categories: Info Vegetable Native
Yield: 1 Text file

Proper name: Zizania aquatica L. [ member of the grass family: Gramineae ]

Other names: Indian Rice, water rice, water oats and Tuscarora rice.

Substitutes and other wild edible grasses: manna grass, reed-grass, rye grass, drop-seed grass, rice grass, slough grass and canary reed-grass.

Range: From New Brunswick to Manitoba and around the Great Lakes region of the U.S. along watercourses, marshes and lake-margins.

How to harvest: Gather in a boat or canoe; bend the fruiting heads over the boat and shake sharply to dislodge the grains. To hull, heat in a dry pot or skillet loosen hulls, beat or trample and then winnow. Wash and dry.

How to cook: the flavor is rather nutty and has a great affinity for mushrooms, almonds and other nuts. Otherwise prepare as for regular rice allowing 3 cups of water for each cup of rice and 40-45 min to cook.

It can also be dried and ground into meal for making porridges and mushes, adding to flour for muffins, breads, cakes and thickening soups.

From: Edible Wild Fruits and Nuts of Canada, published by the National Museums of Canada, ISBN 0-660-00128-4.

Adapted and posted by: Jim Weller

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