<snip>
> Thanks, DC. I had no idea that "wild rice" also goes by the name "cargo
> rice." Is that a British thing?

I'm not sure why it's called cargo rice or if the term is of British
origins. I've only seen it packed & sold as cargo rice in the West(UK, US
etc.)

> And..well, what does "wild rice" mean
> exactly? That the bran is still on it?

It's just a common name given by most SE Asians(Malays, Chinese, Indonesians
etc) i know who refer to it as 'wild rice' as this is what's found growing
wild in uncultivated areas or in forests/jungles. It's what the Ibans &
Dayaks (natives of Borneo, of which these are only 2 tribes that i know of,
there's more) who eat them on a regular basis. During WW2, a lot of people
who went into hiding in forests/jungles or even people in villages & towns
ate 'wild rice' as long grain white rice & food was hard to find. As for the
bran question, i'm not really sure about that, because after
cooking/boiling, one would expect the bran or husk to come off but the 'wild
rice' that i've eaten were still red & a little firmer compared to normal
rice. The water is also tainted slightly red & if you're cooking this with
normal white rice, the rest of white rice comes out in a dark pinkish/red
colour. That's how we use to cook & eat it, mixed in with white rice.
There's also black rice & black glutinous rice & these are w/o husks as
well. The black glutinous rice(pulot hitam in Malay) is commonly used for
desserts in Malaysia & Indonesia. The Chinese use it as well but not as much
or common as the Malays. I think the Chinese only make some desserts with it
& tend to use black glut. rice mainly in it's fermentation stage where it is
used to make black glut. rice wine. Again this is not very popular these
days & is a dying art.



> Oh, and I'm Asian too! Why do you say "we Asians call it"?

I know Peter, i've read many of your previous post & figured that your
family might be from the Philippines. Anyway... maybe i should rephrase that
& say most SE Asians(Malays, Chinese, Indonesians etc) i know call it 'wild
rice'. Does that make it better? With all the political correctness in the
US, I can never tell when i'm steppin' on someones toes. Is it politically
incorrect to use the term Asians now in the US?


DC... the politically incorrect.

ps. don't ask me what DC stands for, some American Chinese found it
offensive.