Wild rice: is it healthier than regular rice?

Wild rice is also called water rice, Indian rice, or Canadian rice. Its grains are black and longer and narrower than long grain rice grains.

However, wild rice not one of the more than 100,000 varieties of rice that there is in the world, as one might suppose from its name. Although wild rice and rice belong to the sweet grass family (Poaceae), come from different genera.

From a purely external point of view, the two plants could be confused, but wild rice belongs to the genus zizaniawhile the common rice of all life, belongs to the genus Oryza.

Wild rice comes from North America, while wild rice Oryza It comes from Asia and has spread to regions around the world.

Since wild rice is similar in shape to rice and It is prepared exactly like rice, it earned its name. Not to be confused with the wild forms of the genus Oryzawhich are called “wild rice”.

What is wild rice

zizania It derives from the Greek word zizánion, which can be translated as “grow in water”. In fact, Wild rice grows in water, on the shores of lakes, rivers, and ponds.

Common rice is also grown wet on the well-known water rice terraces, but the fields are artificially flooded to keep out weeds and pests. It is not an aquatic plant, it has simply adapted to the high water supply over the centuries by developing an aeration system for its roots.

On the other hand, do not confuse the black varieties of rice Oryza with wild rice. Black rice owes its color to the presence of anthocyanins. Wild rice, on the other hand, is brownish-green when harvested, but turns black on drying.

types of wild rice

North American wild rice species they grow predominantly around the Great Lakes of Canada and North America and on the Mississippi. The plants grow up to five meters tall.

Zizania aquatica (comes from North America)Zizania palustris (comes from North America)texan zizania (comes from North America)Zizania latifolia (It is native to East Asia)

If you buy a package of wild rice at the supermarket, it’s most likely Zizania palustris.

How wild rice is harvested

Traditional harvest by indigenous tribes

Older generations of indigenous peoples of North America still harvest wild rice in the traditional way: sitting in a boat, they bend the stalks forward with wooden sticks and drop the grains over the boat.

When the stalks sprout again, some of the grains end up in the water, where they spawn new plants. In this way, the stems are not damaged and only enough is harvested to preserve the natural stock.

Then the long grains they dry in the sun or fire, turning greenish-brown to black. Finally, the outermost shell is removed.

Modern harvest of wild rice

However, as demand is greater than what tribes can harvest, 90% of the world’s wild rice now comes from modern farms, where grown in large ponds and is collected with harvesting machines.

During industrial drying, wild rice is heated to 135ºC for two hours in a huge rotating tube and husked. Sometimes another thin outer layer is also removed to reduce cooking time later.

Wild rice properties

Like common rice, wild rice It is low in fat and calories, but its protein content doubles that of Oryza. In addition, its fiber content is slightly higher than that of brown rice and obviously white.

Except for vitamin B12, all the B vitamins are contained in wild rice. Although the values ​​are for cooked rice and the B vitamins are sensitive to heat, wild rice and brown rice help meet the daily requirement for B vitamins. Wild rice provides more vitamin B2, vitamin B3, and folic acid than brown rice.Brown rice and wild rice contain about the same amount of calcium and magnesium, that multiply by three those of white rice.Wild rice contains twice as much potassium as brown rice. and 6 times the potassium of white rice.100g of cooked wild rice contains 3.5 times more zinc than the same amount of brown rice and 10 times more zinc than white rice. 100 g of wild rice cover a quarter of the daily zinc requirement.

Wild Rice Nutritional Value

100 g of wild rice contain:

Calories: 101 Carbohydrates: 21 g Protein: 4 g Fiber: 2 g Vitamin B6: 7% of the RDA Folic acid: 6% of the RDA Magnesium: 8% of the RDA Phosphorus: 8% of the RDA Zinc: 9% of the CDR Copper: 6% of the CDR Manganese: 14% of the CDR

Healthy benefits of wild rice

Wild rice is gluten and histamine free and is generally very well tolerated.

antioxidant

wild rice it is rich in antioxidants thanks to the presence of epicatechin, epigallocatechin, rutin and some phenolic acids, anthocyanins and vitamin E.

Antioxidant substances reduce oxidative stress in the body. An excess of oxidative stress increases the risk of almost all chronic diseases such as Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, stroke, cardiovascular disease and cancer.

low glycemic load

Wild rice, with a glycemic load of 25, has less impact on blood sugar than white and brown rice, both with a glycemic load greater than 30.

Therefore, wild rice can be part of a weight control diet, to prevent diabetes and inflammation.

Wild rice cooking time

Wild rice is prepared in a similar way to regular rice. Cooking times can vary widely, between 30 minutes of scraped rice and 50 minutes of a more whole grain.

Following the manufacturer’s guidance is the safest clue, but cooking time can be reduced by soaking for an hour or two.

Arsenic and phytic acid in wild rice

Like common rice, wild rice tends to absorb and accumulate arsenic that may be in the soil and water. There are not many studies, but those that have been carried out estimate that the arsenic content can be around 0.11 mg/kg, half that of rice Oryza.

Content can be easily reduced washing beans before cooking or leaving them to soak for several hours.

Like common rice and like any other grain, wild rice contains phytic acid in comparable proportions. Phytic acid can reduce the absorption of iron and calcium, but it also has beneficial effects on the body.

In any case, soaking and cooking reduce excess phytic acid.