Did You Know? - Wild Rice
By: Tanya MacKinnon

Did you know that wild rice is actually not rice at all and that it is native to Canada? Wild rice grew naturally in large quantities throughout southern Canada from Manitoba to central Quebec. Today, we export much of the crop, more than a million KGK, and 70% goes south of the border despite the fact that wild rice grows and is grown in Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota. You would think that Ontario or Manitoba would be the prime provincial exporters of wild rice but in fact, Saskatchewan exports 56% of the total whereas Ontario exports only 12% and Manitoba 27%. So what is wild rice? What happened to much of Ontario's wild rice and why is Saskatchewan the principal producer and exporter? This Bacon staffer is here to answer these questions and provide you with a little knowledge on Canada's wild rice.

Wild rice is actually a cereal grain. A tall, aquatic plant of the grass family a genus that is completely separate from that of rice. This annual grass grows in shallow water (up to 4 feet) in slow streams and rivers and even along the shores of certain lakes. It is the seeds of this plant that we call wild rice. Conditions were favourable and the number of choice spots in southern Canada stretching from Manitoba to central Quebec allowed wild rice to grow naturally in abundance every year. Wild rice has also been called Canada rice, Indian rice and water oats. It is known around the world today but is rarely found outside of Canada and the United States. Wild rice is considered a highly nutritional grain and is recognized by its chewy texture and nutty flavour. The food value is equal to that of cultivated cereals and today many want to increase Canada's production for human benefit as a nutritious food source but also to supply food to waterfowl for increased game hunting.

If wild rice is not rice at all, then how did this cereal grain get its name? We can thank those European explorers that once again made an assumption about the new land and in this case they misnamed it. Early French explorers were astonished that woodland "savages" were able to stay vital, strong, and hardy during the dreadful winters in this new and different land. They decided to call it folles avoines which when translated means crazy oats. After explorers noticed the "Natives" gathering the seeds in waters of the Great Lakes region as well as the plants rising 3 to 4 feet out of the water, it reminded them of rice paddies and a new name took hold. Wild rice was the name because of the resemblance to rice paddies and because it was just growing wild in the wilderness. "Natives" would sometimes give wild rice as a precious gift to fur traders as a symbol of friendship. Many explorers even thought that this rice would be a great new food source and attempted to cultivate it back home by collecting seeds for planting. The plan was a failure likely because the seeds were not handled properly for the long voyage home.

It was once a chief food source for many tribes sustaining our Native Americans (namely those in the Great Lakes region like the Algonquin, Ojibwa, Dakota, Winnebago, Sioux, Fox and Chippewa tribes) through harsh winters when fish and game were difficult to obtain. In fact, it was so valuable that the Ojibwa and Menominee (linguistic families of the Algonquian tribe) warred with some Sioux for centuries to control prime wild-rice fields and the Chippewa would carry small pouches of wild rice whenever they travelled. The Ojibwa called the grain manomin or mahnomen (after the Menominee tribe) meaning good berry. It was valuable because once harvested and dried the seeds could easily be stored indefinitely.

Harvesting would begin up to a month in advance when different tribes would "stake out their favourite spots". In late August to September, the celebration of the "rice moon" would begin. The ricing chief would determine the right day for harvesting and then pairs of women would slowly circulate the grassy lakes in birch bark canoes. One woman would be in the front paddling with a long pole while the other woman used long sticks made of cedar or juniper to bend the grass heads over the canoe gently beating/shaking the seeds into the boat. A full canoe was a day of good harvest. The seeds would then be sun dried or parched over a slow fire to crack open the hulls to then be threshed by trampling. The seeds did not ripen at the same time so the women would have to go out a number of times at about 4 to 6 day intervals in order to collect as many mature seeds as possible. When the harvest was complete a thanksgiving festival called the Megwetch Manomin Feast began, a way to traditionally celebrate the harvest because it was a valuable, nutritious treasure that was extremely important to them and their survival.

In fact you may be familiar with Rice Lake located near Peterborough, Ontario. This is a great example of Canada's wild rice history. On a few early colonial maps, you will see the lake referred to as Folle Avoine or Lake of Wild Oats and by the late 1700s, we see the name changed to Rice Lake. As you have probably guessed, the name originated from the wild rice that grew there in abundance. It is said that the wild rice at one time covered the lake stretching down the north shore in long fingers and almost reached the other shore in several places. The plants were so thick that they covered much of the surface. Unfortunately, the rice beds have since been destroyed due to varying lake levels that followed the construction a damn in Hastings in 1838 (the first damn built on the Trent canal system), a hurricane in 1928 which destroyed many wild rice beds, and since 1950 there has been infestation of carp that destroyed the roots of the remaining rice plants. There is no rice in Rice Lake today.

Rice Lake not only illustrates wild rice history clearly but also explains the changes we see today. Ontario is a low producer of Canada's wild rice production because the favourable conditions occurred 200 years ago and since then the weather has changed, production and industrialization has occurred and simply the population uses the streams, rivers and lakes where much of Canada's wild rice grew naturally. Attempts have been made for hundreds of years to try and commercially produce this grain. The problem is that wild rice is a challenging crop to grow due to weather conditions susceptibility, birds, insects, disease, poor drainage and high water levels. Consequently, the grain does not lend itself to large-scale production techniques.

Before the 1950s, natural stands were the only source available so supplies were limited and varied. Domestication of wild rice has occurred since then and today it is grown commercially in Canada. Consequently, supplies increased greatly in the last 40 years. In Canada, the commercial production occurs in leased lakes from the provincial governments so leasers are permitted to seed the lakes and in some instances control the water levels thereby receiving exclusive harvesting rights that today is usually done by airboat. Our Canadian government maintains control of the leasing agreements, planting and harvesting. Currently, Canada is a major growing region for wild rice. Extensive planting in recent years has allowed this range to grow. Saskatchewan introduced wild rice back in the 1930s for waterfowl feed and this led to growing the crop commercially. Alberta has just recently introduced wild rice for production. The popularity is increasing and there is a demand to increase commercial production levels making this grain not"wild" anymore but many Native American tribes still harvest the grain today marketing this as organic wild rice.

References:

Susan Hauser, Wild Rice Cooking: History, Natural History, Harvesting, and Lore (Lyons Press, 2000).

Gorden Regguinti, The Sacred Harvest: Ojibway Wild Rice Gathering (Lerner Group, 1992).

Clifford & Elaine Theberge, Trent-Severn Waterway (Samuel Stevens Toronto, 1978).

Thomas Vennum Jr., Wild Rice and the Ojibway People (Minnesota Historical Society Press, 1988).