Wild rice: special and local Most California wild rice acreage is found in the mountainous regions of Shasta, Lassen and Modoc counties, where the climate mimics the growing conditions of Minnesota. Some wild rice is also grown in the Sacramento Valley, which produces nearly all the state’s white rice. Through the years, the Golden State has grown as many as 20,000 acres of wild rice and as few as 10,000 acres, depending on market conditions. It remains a small “specialty” crop compared to white rice, acreage of which has topped 500,000. “It’s definitely a unique crop,” Brim-DeForest says. “There’s not that many crops that we grow in the United States anymore that are from the United States. If you’re trying to eat locally, wild rice would be one of the crops that would be quite local.” Christie of Alturas Ranches, which has been growing wild rice for more than 35 years, says she thinks many consumers have yet to discover the “great nutritional value of wild rice,” which has dietary fiber and protein levels higher than regular white rice and most other grains. From breakfast to dessert Christie says she likes to cook it ahead, refrigerate it and eat it for breakfast by adding milk, fresh or dried fruits, nuts, coconut, flax seed and “whatever you want to throw in there.” She adds that using wild rice in burgers, breads, cookies and other desserts adds color and texture. Wild rice also lends heft and dimension to clam chowder and all kinds of soups, farmer Mary Rickert says. She has substituted wild rice for beans in chili. As an alternative to holiday cranberry sauce, she’s made gelatin with wild rice, whole cranberries and chopped walnuts. For an earthy wintertime side dish, sauté sliced
Wild rice, above, is an aquatic grass in which the seeds are harvested for food, above left.
mushrooms, chopped onions, chopped celery and chunks of bacon, and then stir in cooked wild rice, Rickert recommends. This dish is so simple, Rickert says, yet “people just go crazy for it.” She prefers to cook the rice in the oven using a covered casserole dish rather than in a rice cooker or on the stovetop. Baking it, she says, makes the rice come out “beautifully soft and tender” while also “puffy and light.” It’s important to cook it until all the water is absorbed and the kernels pop open, she says, because undercooked wild rice has a hard texture that’s difficult to chew. The oven method usually takes about an hour and a half to achieve the tenderness she prefers. For speedier cooking, look for wild rice that has been scarified, which means the kernel’s outer bran
californiabountiful.com 25
Powered by FlippingBook