Previously:
When the Anishinaabe people left eastern North America some several centuries ago, they were following a prophecy that led them west across the Great Lakes, searching for the “food that grows on water.” Generations later, their great journey brought them to the far end of Lake Superior, to the large island now called Madeline Island. They knew they had found their new home when they found abundant wild rice — growing on the water — across what’s now northern Wisconsin and northern Minnesota. Their descendants still harvest, and carefully manage, wild rice lakes today.
The Dakota people, here at the eastern edge of their territory, and who occupied much of the region before the arrival of the Anishinaabe people arrived, also treasure the rice, which they call psiη. It is a priceless plant, a cherished relative of Indigenous people, providing nutrients, protein, and much more. It ripens in late summer and can then be dried and saved to eat over long winters.
Wild rice doesn’t grow just anywhere. The aquatic plant is picky: requiring the right climate, water chemistry, precipitation patterns, flooding cycles, and other specific needs. These conditions are common in the northern parts of Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan. It’s a bountiful region where wild rice grows on many lakes, offering natural nutrition year after year. The upper St. Croix River region in northwest Wisconsin has some of the densest numbers of wild rice lakes, so when French fur traders arrived in the 18th century, they dubbed the area the “folle avoine” country — translating to “wild oats,” or their name for the grain.
The food soon became important for European immigrants of all stripes, and has become an established part of regional cuisine.
The conditions required for wild rice include the following, according to the Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission:
- Water Flow: Rice requires the presence of flowing water, with rivers, flowages, and lakes that have an inlet and outlet being optimal examples. Springs on some lakes may even provide the inflow necessary for growth. In lakes with relatively low flow, rice may persist but will typically vary more in abundance from year-to-year. Manoomin generally does not persist on land-locked waters perhaps due to the lack of nutrient inputs that flow provides.
- Water Depth: Rice grows in about 6 inches to 3 feet of water, with the middle of this range being optimal. Plants found growing in deeper water at the edge of beds provide protection to the bed behind by absorbing and dampening wind and waves.
- Water Clarity/Color: Clear water is preferred, as very dark or turbid water limits sunlight penetration and may hinder germination and early plant development. Rice beds can be supported on moderately stained waters, particularly where water depths are limited to 2 feet or less.
- Water Fluctuations: Generally annual fluctuations should not be too great during the growing season. Water levels that are relatively stable or decline gradually during the season are most favorable. However, too much stability in water levels over many years may be detrimental and may lead to perennial plants outcompeting Manoomin. Some natural fluctuations should be maintained, even if it means an occasional poor year for rice.
- Sediment Type: Several inches of soft organic muck is considered optimal. However, rice is fairly tolerant and beds can be found on a wide variety of bottom types including sandy and semi-rocky substrates when other growing conditions are good.
- Pollution: Rice can be particularly vulnerable to water pollutants, including sulfates, which enter the water through waste and industrial discharge. Metal mining and other sources of pollution have been linked with impaired and collapsed rice beds.
Harvesting wild rice is carefully regulated. It must be done only when the rice is ripe and ready, and thus tribal and state officials announce when different lakes are open and closed each year. In addition to tribal members, harvesting wild rice in Minnesota is open to residents and nonresidents; harvesting in Wisconsin is only open to Wisconsin residents. Both states require harvesters to acquire permits, while Native tribes license their members.
Wild rice can often be purchased in the fall at stores around the Folle Avoine country. Here are several sources to purchase it online:
- Bois Forte Band of of Chippewa
- Red Lake Nation Foods
- Native Harvest Ojibwe Products
- Indigenous Food Lab
Once you have wild rice, it can be prepared and eaten in many ways. It is popular in soup, hotdish, and simply on its own, or mixed with blueberries.
Native Harvest Ojibwe Products, a project of the White Earth Land Recovery Project, has recipes for wild rice stuffing and wild rice fruit salad. Dr. Arne Vainio, a physician and enrolled member of the Mille Lacs Band wrote about some memories of manoomin and a recipe for the Circle News in 2021. This article by Wendy Makoons Geniusz from The Heavy Table includes two recipes from an Ojibwe friend named Barbara Heqet. One recipe is for a simple preparation, while the other is for a wild rice dessert. Author Tashia Hart also published a wild rice cookbook in 2021 with the Minnesota Historical Society Press titled “The Good Berry Cookbook.”
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