Close to 60 years ago, Peter Ratuski purchased the first grains of Indian-finished wild rice, effectively starting the family owned business that is now Shoal Lake Wild Rice Ltd.

Peter?s sons Ben and Bill, current owners of the business, picked up on this aspect of their father?s interest and have developed it into the respected business it is today.

Wild rice, indigenous to this area, has been a staple food for the native population for centuries. This naturally grown product is harvested each fall and that is when Shoal Lake Wild Rice is at its busiest.

Purchasing the freshly picked wild rice from harvesters in northwestern Ontario, the Manitoba Whiteshell area, northern Manitoba and northern Saskatchewan, the Shoal Lake Wild Rice processing plant burgeons with activity. The company processed one-third of the 3 million pound Canadian rice harvest in 1987.

Normally staffed with two full-time and three part-time employees during the greater part of the year, 10 more people are hired to help in various stages of processing.

After the first stage, curing, where the kernels are turned from green to black by moistening with water and turned over, it is roasted in gas-fired ovens.

The roasting stage is an important step in the processing as the roasting imparts a distinctive nutty flavor; a delicate hand is needed to obtain the right degree of roasting.

After roasting, the kernels are separated from the chaff via a gravity fed system - as the business is situated on a slope. The kernels are then graded according to size and put into 100 lb bags. These 100 lb bags are in turn repackaged throughout the year in various sizes.