It’s just past harvest season in most of Minnesota, but depending on the weather in your area, you may still be harvesting brussels sprouts, potatoes or pumpkins. I thought you would enjoy trying a couple of recipes from two of Minnesota’s Native American cultures.

Several Native American cultures consider wild rice to be a sacred component in their culture. The rice is harvested with a canoe: one person “knocks” rice into the canoe with two small poles (called “knockers” or “flails”) while the other paddles slowly or uses a push pole. For these groups, this harvest is an important cultural (and often economic) event. Commercial cultivation began in the late 1900’s in California and Minnesota. 

Wild rice has a delicious nutty, hearty flavor and a chewy texture. Today it is mainly cultivated in paddy fields, although I’ve seen traditional harvesting areas in northern Minnesota. Wild rice is primarily a source of carbohydrates and contains a moderately high amount of fiber. It also contains a variety of vitamins (Folate, B2 and B6 are the top 3) and minerals (Copper, Zinc and Magnesium are the top 3). Compared to white rice, wild rice is lower in calories, higher in fiber, sugars, fat and protein as well as Omega-3 and Omega-6. 

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Chippewa Blueberry Wild Rice Pudding

Ingredients:

Wild Rice part:

• 4 cups water

• 1 cup Chippewa wild rice

• 1 tsp salt

• ½ tsp vanilla extract

Blueberry Mixture:

• 1 cup blueberries, dried

• 2 qts Milk

• 2 Tbsp vanilla extract

• 16 eggs warmed to room temperature

• 2 cups sugar

• Dash freshly grated nutmeg, to taste

Instructions for the Wild Rice part:

1. Wash the Chippewa wild rice

2. Put the water, wild rice, vanilla, and salt in a two-quart saucepan and bring the mixture to a boil.

3. Reduce the heat and simmer the mixture for 45-60 minutes.

4. Simmer with the cover on and stop when you notice the rice is puffy and the liquid has been completely absorbed.

5. Fluff the rice with a fork and continue cooking with the lid off until any excess liquid evaporates.

6. Set aside.

Instructions for the Blueberry Wild Rice Pudding:

1. Oil a large baking pan (13” x 9”)

2. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

3. Prepare blueberries by pouring enough boiling water over them to cover them and let them soak for five minutes.

4. Place the cooked wild rice and blueberries in the oiled baking pan.

5. Heat the milk and vanilla extract in a saucepan over medium heat, until the milk is scalded.

6. Mix the eggs and sugar in a separate bowl at high speed until the mixture is foamy.

7. Whisk the scalded milk into the eggs until thoroughly blended.

8. Pour the mixture on top of the rice and blueberries and stir it very carefully just until blended.

9. Top with nutmeg as desired.

10.  Place it in the oven and bake it for 1 ¼ hours, or until edges are golden brown.

Ojibwa Baked Pumpkin

Pumpkins are actually considered a fruit, not a vegetable, and belong to the Cucurbitaceae family, which includes cucumbers, melons, squash, and gourds. They did not always appear as they appear today. They resembled something like the Crooked-neck squash of today. Native Americans called pumpkins “isqoutm squash” and used them as a staple in their diets centuries before the Pilgrims landed. A non-food use was drying strips of pumpkin, pounding it flat, then weaving it into mats. They would roast long strips of pumpkin and seeds on the open fire, or it could be boiled, baked and eaten. It could be easily stored and dried for extended use through the long winters. Pumpkins were used to feed livestock and still are. When my family lived on the farm, every November we would haul our trailer to the pumpkin farm down the road and load up all their unsold, old, damaged pumpkins and feed them to our pigs. That pork was tender, delicious and low fat with a slight hint of pumpkin flavor.

Ingredients:

• 1 small pumpkin (use a pie pumpkin, like Baby Bear, Cinderella or Dickenson; this is the pumpkin that Libby uses for its canned pumpkin)

• ¼ cup maple syrup

• ¼ cup apple cider

• ¼ cup butter, melted

Instructions for the Pumpkin:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees

2. Place whole pumpkin in oven for 1 ½ to 2 hours

3. Remove pumpkin from oven

4. Keep the oven on and maintain 350-degree temperature.

5. Cut a hole in the top and remove it

6. Scoop out the seeds

7. Set seeds aside for later eating

8. Scoop out the pulp into a large bowl

9. Add the maple syrup and apple cider to the pulp, mix well

10.  Pour back into pumpkin shell

11.  Bake for 35-40 minutes

12.  Cut into wedges and serve

Instructions for the pumpkin seeds:

1. Preheat oven to 250 degrees.

2. Wash the seeds well

3. Spread evenly, without layering them, onto a baking sheet.

4. Sprinkle with salt

5. Back, checking often until seeds are dried

6. Remove from oven and serve

Photo Credit: Joy Johnson (1,2,3)