California Wild rice

Wild rice traditionally evokes images of Native Americans flailing grain into canoes on Minnesota lakes. But the world’s largest wild rice field actually is on a ranch in Modoc County, Calif., where antelope outnumber people.

In the last quarter-century California’s cultivated wild rice industry has outgrown Minnesota’s to dominate production. And although none of California’s rice is hand-harvested from lakes, it has a romance of its own among the fields, which range from the Sacramento Valley to the extreme northeast corner of the state--an area closer to Canada than to Los Angeles.

In fact, most wild rice isn’t really wild, any more than it’s really rice. The smoky, nutty grain is the seed of an aquatic grass, Zizania palustris, only distantly related to regular rice, Oryza sativa. It’s native to the lakes and streams of the Upper Midwest, but more than 90% of the supply now comes from farmed paddies.

The Sacramento Valley’s flat land, hot, dry summers and ample water provide superb growing conditions for wild rice. Five miles west of downtown Sacramento, Interstate 80 soars above the Yolo Bypass flood plain, a vast meadow of green and tan, crisscrossed by levees and irrigation ditches.

On a broiling late-summer afternoon, Jack DeWit, a grower who is chairman of the California Wild Rice Advisory Board, guns his pickup truck over rutted tracks to inspect 1,200 acres of the ripening grain. Leaping out, he sloshes into a paddy and bends down to check a banded stick that indicates the proper water level, 8 inches.

The yearly cycle begins in spring as soon as winter rains dry up, when he cultivates the soil, DeWit explains; in May and June he floods the fields, then sows the seeds from a crop-duster airplane. Early on, the plants lie flat on the water. Later they stand up, reaching a height of 6 to 8 feet. DeWit pulls out a plant and points out the grain; a week away from harvest, it’s still green on the surface and milky in texture inside.

As dragonflies hover and a slender blue heron flaps into the air, a cloud of blackbirds swoops into the paddy. DeWit frowns and grabs a shotgun out of the truck. “Those blackbirds have got a hotel in the reeds and a smorgasbord in the wild rice fields,” he says, blasting into the air as the birds fly off. “Blackbirds can destroy your crop.”

Farmers try to scare off the marauders with noise cannons, model airplanes and even trained falcons, but shotguns still work best, he says.

The next afternoon, 20 miles north in Pleasant Grove, Chris McKenzie sits in the enclosed cabin of his half-track combine, reaping a newly drained field. Many growers harvest in undrained paddies, but it’s easier on the equipment to work “dry,” he shouts as the groaning combine grabs mouthfuls of tall stalks in its extra-large reel and feeds them into a thresher.

When the combine is full, McKenzie flushes the brown grain, still cased in straw-green husks, through a hollow boom into a V-bottomed hopper. “Choosing the best time for harvest is a crap shoot,” he says. Too early, much of the rice is immature; too late, birds have devoured or scattered the grain.

Across the road, lush green paddies of medium-grain regular rice stretch to the horizon. California’s 14,000 acres of wild rice are a pittance compared to its 550,000 acres of ordinary rice, but part of wild rice’s attraction for Sacramento Valley growers is that the crops use similar equipment and farming practices.

Newly harvested wild rice spends several days to a week in the hopper, curing and developing flavor as it ferments. Most of the Sacramento Valley’s crop goes to the Indian Harvest Specialtifoods processing plant in nearby Colusa, which operates continuously during peak wild rice harvest, from late August through September.

At this giant computer-controlled factory, owned by Minnesotans, the “scalperator” and “screenerator” separate the grain from the chaff, and a steam parboiler converts the starch from floury to gelatinized form. White-coated technicians take samples as the rice is dried on conveyor belts over gas flames and sorted by size.

Finally, a process called scarification scratches the layer of bran covering the kernels so that water can get through and they’ll cook faster. The vast majority of cultivated wild rice is blended with regular rice, so the cooking times of the two grains must match.

Although a Minnesota farmer first experimented with cultivated wild rice in 1950, most of the grain fell into the water before harvest, in a natural seed-dispersal mechanism called shattering. But in 1963, agronomists discovered plants with some resistance to shattering, and Minnesota cultivation expanded tremendously in the late 1960s and early ‘70s.

A grower of regular rice, Vince Vanderford, started the first California wild rice paddy next to his home in Yuba City. Now retired, Vanderford stands in front of that very field, which is planted with medium-grain rice, runs his fingers over a dried wild rice stalk and recalls how he adapted the grain to California conditions.

A friend brought him two ice chests of wild rice seed from Minnesota in 1970. “We had a hell of a crop the first year, but more than half of it shattered,” he says. “By keeping the seed that had a tendency to stick to the stalk, we got a better return the next year, and eventually fixed the problem. By the fifth year, in 1975, we decided this would work.”

An apparent drawback provided the key to this success: In Minnesota, wild rice naturally reseeds itself from year to year, perpetuating the same genes. But in the Sacramento Valley, the seeds, programmed to expect Midwestern winters, don’t receive enough chill to germinate in the spring. Growers have to store the seed for the next year’s crop in frigid water, at considerable expense. But by saving and using the best seed, they improve the performance of each generation.

Vanderford and his partners sold his first commercial crop in 1977. Sacramento Valley farmers, noting that wild rice fetched up to $7 a pound wholesale, rushed to plant the new grain, and by 1984, California’s burgeoning production surpassed Minnesota’s. Two years later, however, oversupply glutted the market, prices crashed and desperate growers got into fistfights at conferences.

After much fluctuation, prices remain low today, about $1.35 a processed pound, but efficient operations can make money. For instance, at Goose Valley Ranch near Burney in northeastern California, Ted DeBraga reaps yields as high as 1,100 finished pounds an acre, three times the Minnesota average. The crop benefits from cool nights in the high valleys and plains of the region, where about half of the state’s crop grows.

Goose Valley is a wild and beautiful Shangri-La, ringed by pine-tree-covered mountains, with a view of Mt. Shasta, 40 miles away. Driving through the valley one afternoon, DeBraga, who also raises mint, timothy (a special hay for racehorses) and prizewinning beef cattle, points out the spot where he once saw a huge eight-point elk, with only its antlers visible above the wild rice plants.

Sometimes the elements run wild too. DeBraga chuckles with resignation as he surveys the damage from a storm the night before, when pelting rain and high winds crushed pockets of grain into the water, giving the paddy a ragged, pitted appearance, a problem known as “lodging.”

Much of the northeast’s harvest goes to the Fall River Wild Rice plant near Fall River Mills, owned by a growers’ cooperative. Manager Hiram Oilar claims that his product, processed by the traditional parch/roast method, tastes better than parboiled wild rice.

“It starts with careful attention to curing,” he says, walking over to big, red metal bins of 5-day-old wild rice in front of the factory. He sifts a handful and holds it to his nose, like a vintner sniffing a sample from a cask. “This rice is perfect, it smells real sweet,” he says, “It’s ready to go right now.”

With a pleasing aroma halfway between those of a sawmill and a laundry, the processing plant is a simple shed compared to the automated Indian Harvest facility. Along one wall, large gas-heated dryers parch the rice to reduce moisture, then roast it to impart a smoky, grainy flavor.

Further east, toward the Nevada border, the mountains dissolve into high desert basin and range, the land of sagebrush and juniper, with tumbleweeds growing by the side of the road.

Alturas, 4,300 feet high, is the seat of Modoc County, the poorest and most remote county in the state. Some residents of the region, wary of what they see as governmental meddling, want to secede from California to form their own state.

Thirteen miles south of the town grow Alturas Ranches’ 2,700 acres of wild rice, the largest planting in the world. Near the entrance, flanked by fields of wheat and alfalfa, a dozen pronghorn antelope interrupt their browsing to scrutinize a visiting truck.

At the ranch office, Sid Howard, a manager of the 30,000-acre property, explains that the local subzero winters allow wild rice to reseed itself with volunteers each year, as in Minnesota. At the ranches’ fields in Madeline, elevation 5,100 feet, the “mile high” wild rice flourishes despite even more extreme conditions: in the middle of July one year, 8 inches of snow blanketed the paddies.

Growing area, curing and processing all influence the taste of wild rice. Traditional hand-harvested lake wild rice from Minnesota varies idiosyncratically in flavor and texture: Some batches have an exquisite green tea or hearty smoky flavor, and others are unpleasantly grassy or bitter. Wild rice harvested by airboats in Saskatchewan from semi-wild lakes has the largest, most impressive grains, often shiny dark black. A thick layer of bran protects the grains, though some samples fail to achieve a chewable texture, even after more than an hour of cooking.

Wild rice grown in the Sacramento Valley isn’t much different than northeastern California’s in appearance or flavor. On close inspection, parboiled-processed wild rice may look slightly shriveled compared to the parch-roasted product, which has a richer, nutty, toasted taste.

Fall River Wild Rice, the growers’ co-op, sells parch-roasted wild rice produced in northeastern California. Available in half-pound boxes for $2.25, 1-pound bags for $3.50, and 5-pound boxes for $17.75, plus shipping. Organic wild rice also available, at the same price. HC-01 Osprey Drive, Fall River Mills, CA 96028. (800) 626-4366.

Wild Rice Butternut Squash Stuffing

Active Work Time: 45 minutes * Total Preparation Time: 1 hour 15 minutes

This recipe is from Josiah Citrin, chef/owner of Melisse in Santa Monica.

1 cup wild rice

3 slices smoked bacon

1/2 cup diced onion

2 bay leaves

3 1/2 cups chicken broth

1/4 cup finely diced carrots

1/4 cup finely diced celery

Salt

Freshly ground white pepper

1 butternut squash

Black pepper

1/2 pound fresh chicken livers

1 tablespoon butter, plus more for greasing

3 tablespoons finely chopped parsley

2 tablespoons finely diced shallots

2 tablespoons cognac

* Place rice in medium-size pot and cover with cold water. Bring to boil over medium-high heat and cook 1 minute. Drain and set aside.

* Cook bacon in pot over medium heat until lightly browned, 3 to 5 minutes. Add onion, cover and cook until translucent, 3 to 4 minutes. Add rice and stir to coat with bacon fat. Add bay leaves and broth. Bring to boil over medium heat, reduce heat and simmer 15 minutes.

* Add carrots, cover and simmer 20 minutes. At this point, rice should be almost al dente. Add celery and cook 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Rice is done when it starts to expand and has very little crunch left. Remove bacon and bay leaves immediately. Lay rice out on baking sheet and let cool.

* Cut squash in half and remove strings and seeds. Season with salt and black pepper. Place on greased baking sheet. Bake until squash is soft but not mushy, 45 minutes. When squash is cool enough to handle, peel skin and cut squash into 1-inch squares. Set aside.

* Season chicken livers with salt and black pepper. Heat medium saute pan over medium-high heat. Add 1 tablespoon butter and quickly saute chicken livers until lightly browned and no longer pink, 30 seconds each side. Remove and let cool. Puree in food processor and pass through fine sieve into mixing bowl.

* Mix rice into pureed chicken livers. Add squash, parsley, shallots and cognac. Mix well. Add salt and pepper to taste.

8 servings. Each serving: 182 calories; 455 mg sodium; 100 mg cholesterol; 4 grams fat; 24 grams carbohydrates; 10 grams protein; 1.20 grams fiber.

Fall River Hotel Wild Rice Salad

Active Work Time: 30 minutes * Total Preparation Time: 1 hour plus 2 hours cooling

This is the recipe prepared by Sandra Jensen at the Fall River Hotel in Fall River Mills, a prime wild rice-growing area. Similar dishes are served throughout northeastern California. The use of bottled dressing helps this come together easily.

1 cup wild rice

6 cups water

1/2 tablespoon chicken base

1/2 cup diced red, green or yellow bell pepper, or combination of all 3

1/2 onion, diced

1/2 cup sliced white mushrooms

1 cup chopped broccoli florets

1 cup chopped cauliflower

1 cup chopped tomatoes

1/2 cup bottled Italian salad dressing, or more to taste

Green leaf lettuce, for serving

Avocado slices, for serving

* Combine rice and 4 cups water in medium saucepan. Bring to boil over medium heat, reduce heat to low, cover and simmer until almost all liquid is gone, 40 minutes.

* Mix chicken base with 2 cups water. Add bell pepper, onion and mushrooms. Stir into cooked rice and continue to simmer over low heat until almost dry, 20 minutes. (Rice may be done even if there is liquid left; it should be puffed and a little crunchy.) Remove from heat, and let cool 1 hour. Refrigerate 1 hour (but no more than 1 day) until ready to serve.

* Just before serving, bring medium pot of water to boil over high heat and add broccoli and cauliflower. Cook 1 minute, then immerse in ice water. Drain.

* Stir tomatoes, broccoli, cauliflower and Italian dressing to taste into rice mixture. Serve on bed of green leaf lettuce and garnish with avocado slices if desired.

Variation: Stir in 1 cup cooked bay shrimp or diced grilled chicken (2 breasts) with fresh vegetables.

8 servings. Each serving: 159 calories; 293 mg sodium; 0 mg cholesterol; 7 grams fat; 20 grams carbohydrates; 4 grams protein; 0.81 gram fiber.