After the rice was harvested, it was pounded or milled to loosen the husk from the rice grain. The rice was then placed in a coiled grass fanner basket, tossed into the air, and caught again in the basket. The wind would carry away the light, inedible husk or chaff, leaving the rice grain ready to use.

Fanning rice at Wedgefield Plantation, ca. 1896. Photo courtesy of the Rice Museum, Georgetown, S.C.