332639 Mon Oct 09 17:57:40 -0700 2006 6 27 General Chowhounding Topics 0 1932950 Does wild rice ever "go bad" or is the taste affected or diminished in any way by age? Thanks in advance. mary Mon Oct 09 17:57:40 -0700 2006 11245 marycarol 1 1943040 I've kept wild rice for 2 years with no discernable loss of quality- I have no iea how long it was on the shelf before I got to it. I have pretty good plastic storage. It may have taken slightly longer to open during the boil, but free of bugs and other contaminants, and kept out of direct sunlight to prevent the possibilty of rancidity, I can't imagine it going bad. Fri Oct 13 05:15:37 -0700 2006 1932950 39914 lunchbox 2 1943202 ditto - same experience. Read recently of some rice found in archeaological site - cooked up fine although doubt anyone ate it. Fri Oct 13 11:53:22 -0700 2006 1943040 14685 serious 1 1944222 w.r. will keep indefinately, although some folks say it is best if used in 1st 2 years-- not as big of a deal as dried out, old dried beans tho. Your rice is probably fine no matter how old it is if it was stored well. Fri Oct 13 18:52:45 -0700 2006 1932950 46030 soupkitten 1 1944831 I have cooked some that I found at the back of the pantry that was 3 years old. It tasted fine and cooked according to the directions. I would think that shelf life would be almost indefinite, as long as it was kept dry and out of the light. Mine was in a plastic bag inside a Rubbermaid container. Fri Oct 13 23:07:34 -0700 2006 1932950 22220 Kelli2006 1 1947524 I recently visited a wild rice operation near Winnipeg, Canada. The wild rice is grown, harvested, dried, parched and bagged all in one place. The co-owner of the operation said that when wild rice is "old" it might never open at all during cooking. This actually happened to one of the members on our tour (all culinary professionals attending the annual Cuisine Canada conference). Considering that one never knows how long something's been sitting around in a distributor's warehouse/grocery store, there's no way of knowing whether your wild rice is old before you buy it. I'd advise you to soak your wild rice prior to use, especially if you are aware that it's been sitting around for awhile. Sun Oct 15 21:54:03 -0700 2006 1932950 45482 olivergail 1 2226393 I have been buying wild rice from the source near Winnipeg ( probably Shoal Lake Co-op, one of the biggest on the continent) for thirty years and have occaisionally used 7 or 8 year old rice. Works fine following all the advice in the above threads. I have always done a 10 minute boil-drain -rinse cycle before my cooking time, with both new and old rice. Never had a problem. Thu Jan 25 12:36:13 -0800 2007 1932950 29740 noblejay