I see the first signs of fall. The first of the trees to show any color are starting to show yellow. The wild asters are blooming. We have several different types in Minnesota. Of course, the goldenrod has been blooming for almost a month. The wild rice in the lakes and rivers is beginning to look like it’s near harvest time. It grows in relatively shallow water and is harvested by two people using a canoe. One poles the canoe through the shallow water and the other person folds the rice over the canoe and gently beats it with a stick to knock off the ripe kernels. Some of the kernels will not be ripe and can be harvested later. Some are left to provide seed for next year’s crop. Here’s a YouTube video on harvesting wild rice – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zs8UyGlL3iU After the wild rice is harvested, it must be processed. Here is a YouTube video about how many individuals make their own processing tools and is how it is done – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=olTdH6j3kp8 If you look carefully at the wild rice at the end of processing, you will see the rice is not black like much of the wild rice is that it is sold in stores is. The story I have always heard is a big company that included wild rice in some of the foods wanted it to look different than Patty Rice. To get the black rice, they over parch the rice giving it the black color. That black rice takes longer to cook and has a different flavor than properly processed wild rice does. I prefer “properly processed” wild rice. The black rice has a flavor I do not like.
Back to the signs of fall coming – the TV weather lady this morning said that by the end up our next week, high temperatures would be just in the 60s. It will feel like ricing weather!
