Growing Wild The real thing makes the paddy version taste tame      True wild rice is exactly that: wild. This native grain, which grows mostly in the shallow lakes and streams of Minnesota and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Manitoba, is indigenous to North America -- and, in Minnesota anyway, lake-grown wild rice is still picked by hand, usually by Native Americans working from canoes. (While any state resident living in a rice-growing area can apply for a license to harvest, priority is given to Native Americans.) True wild rice is by no means to be confused with commercial "wild" rice, which is cultivated and harvested in paddies (mostly in California but in Minnesota as well), and which constitutes 97 percent of the wild rice grown in this country today. Real wild rice is much richer, its flavor is nuttier, and its grain is longer, lighter, and lower in moisture content.      In the Leech Lake Reservation Area in north-central Minnesota, the Ojibwe and Chippewa tribes have harvested wild rice for centuries -- and for the past 27 years, Ernie Anderson has been buying it, processing it in a 1940's era mill, and selling it by mail order countrywide. "It takes a great deal of gentle handling and a lot of expertise to mill wild rice," says Anderson, who grew up in the area and is now the owner of Northern Lakes Wild Rice, a four-person operation near Pine River, Minnesota. Since wild rice is in short supply, the harvesting season, which is strictly controlled by the state, lasts only from late August through mid-September. That's fine with Anderson, who also happens to be a ski instructor in Colorado. --Allison Engel Saveur Magazine, November 1998, Number 30, Page 67. Reprinted with permission