Wild rice stems

Wild rice seeds

　　Wild rice stems are a type of perennial aquatic rhizomatous plant, while wild rice seeds are the grains produced by the young shoots of these plants in marshes. The young shoots are harvested, husked, dried, and winnowed to produce wild rice seeds. These slender, cylindrical seeds are about the size of the eye of a needle, hard and smooth like dark jade.

Pancakes made from wild rice seeds are dark in color, soft and tender in texture without sticking to the teeth, sweet yet not cloying, offering a unique flavor that is hard to match by other foods. They are no less delicious than Nanjing’s New Year cake or Yangzhou’s sesame candy.

In addition, wild rice seeds can be used for cooking rice, making porridge, or ground into flour for baking; if used for brewing, they produce a fragrant liquor that is intoxicating yet milder—much tastier than sorghum wine.