True wild rice is not rice at all. It is an aquatic grass native to the Great Lakes region, harvested for centuries by the Ojibwe and other Indigenous peoples who still gather it by canoe in late summer. When you buy hand-harvested wild rice, you are supporting that tradition and tasting something no paddy-grown grain can replicate.

Look for rice that is dark, nearly black, with grains of varying lengths. This irregularity is a mark of authenticity. The grain should smell faintly of smoke and earth. Paddy-grown wild rice is uniform and cheaper, but it cooks to mush and lacks the complexity that makes this dish worth making.

Dried cherries belong here because they are American too. The tart ones from Michigan are ideal, bright with acidity that cuts through the rice's richness. Pecans, native to the South, add the crunch this dish needs. Together, these ingredients tell a story about place. Your choices shape the food system. When you seek out hand-harvested rice and American-grown fruit and nuts, you keep those traditions alive.