THIS RICE IS WILD by Beth Hunt Anderson

Beth Hunt Anderson began her cancer as a home economist with a "Fortune 500" company. Later she was a writer for a award-winning food section of a large daily newspaper.

Now she has her own food consulting and marketing form, through which she does a lot of work with wild rice.

She lives in Minneapolis with a "blended" family that includes a husband, four young adults and two German shepherds. All of them love wild rice!

Introduction
No one knows for sure when the American Indians first began to harvest wild rice. This grain- like seed of an aquatic grass grows in abundance in the lakes if Northern Minnesota, Wisconsin and adjacent parts of Canada. Probably as early as the first century A.D., the Indians poled their canoes through tall lake grasses each autumn. The harvest was gathered by bending the plants over the canoe and knocking the ripened grain into the bottom of the boat.  Later, on shore, the wild rice was dried in the sun, then parched over a campfire. Members of the tribe threshed the grain with their feet, working the chaff from the seed by treading on the wild rice.

The tribe depended on this nutritious carbohydrate to survive the harsh northern winters. When the wild rice crop was sparse, many starved. Small wonder the Indians called the seed “ precious wild rice.” Even today, the Indians gather un the fall of the year to harvest the wild rice.

Cooks in the Upper Midwest have long appreciated the versatility of their native grain. It’s nutritional, high in fiber and good quality protein, but low in fat and calories (70 in half a cup). Because wild rice increases in volume as much as four times when cooked, the cost- per- serving is very reasonable. Gourmets are discovering that the unique woodsy flavor of wild rice is the perfect accompaniment to specialty dishes for the sophisticated palate.

This books presents three cooks who represent the three different approaches to wild rice cookery. Ku- la is an Ojibwa Indian. Like her ancestors, she serves wild rice because it’s nutritional. Bartling, the Harvard MBA, looks for menu items that have a classy image but won’t cost him an arm and a leg. The French chef speaks for the connoisseur. Bernard delights in the subtle flavor of wild rice.

Uncooked wild rice can be stored in a tightly covered container set in a cool place for several months; however for longer storage, it is best refrigerated in a tightly closed container.

Cooked wild rice, well- drained and without other foods added, will keep in a tightly covered container, refrigerated for several weeks or it can be frozen for longer storage.