Wildrice, an Adjunct for Lottery Winners

[yankinoz]

Wild rice (Zizania spp) is a grain so named because it grows in shallow water; oats are a closer relative than rice. The wild rice that turns up in Aussie shops and online stores is either imported from North America, where it has a long history as a turkey stuffing, or is a related Australian species. The lowest bulk price I've found is a little over $40/kg, which has so far prevented my brewing with it.

There is a reason to be tempted. In the US the cost is about half as much as in Australia at current FOREX rates, and a few US breweries have made beers with it. The one I've had was a lager by Capital Brewing, Madison, Wisconsin, and it had a noticeable, unique and pleasant grain taste. Nutty--I mean really nutlike--and creamy in mouthfeel.

I believe Capital used it for about 20% of the grist. Almost certainly they precooked it, since the grains are large and very hard. Protein content is also very high.

Some day.

 

[Mozz]

Northern Australia has vast areas of wild rice in its wetlands (Orza spp.) which is uncontaminated by modern strains. The Japanese
artist Mitsuaki Tanabe was so taken by this he started a massive sculpture of a rice grain in rocks at Mt Bundey not far from Humpty Doo (started around 2008 I think). Unfortunately he died last year before it was completed.
Just need to get out your Dili bag and collect some.

 

[yankinoz]

What Mozz describes is rice proper, but settlers in North America saw Indians gathering grain in marshes and called that wild rice, even though it isn't really rice at all. That's the grain I've had in beers, though real rice from the wild might be worth trying.

Oryza is the rice genus. Wild or not, it's a different plant from North American and Chinese Zizania spp, which do not taste at all like true rice. Zizania aquatica is of American origin, where it is still gathered wild, is now cultivated in the US and apparently by a few Australian growers. The commercial suppliers of Australian "wild rice" that I checked offered Zizania. One said it had Aussie suppliers, but the others imported from the US or Canada. Coles and Woolies sell North American wild rice in tiny packets at exorbitant specialty prices.

Dunno what wild Oryza would do in a grist. Domesticated rice adds little flavour to beer, but domestication tends to make cereals starchier and less flavourful.

If ever I'm near Humpty Doo and Mt Bundey, I'll look for the statue and maybe gather some grain.