Species sheet · The Edible River
Fox nut
The thorny water lily that ends up as popcorn.
- Toasted in ghee with salt and turmeric as a snack
- In kheer, simmered in sweetened milk with cardamom
- Folded into a curry for crunch
- In French
- Makhana
- Scientific name
- Euryale ferox
- In the water
- A giant water lily of still ponds in northern India, Bangladesh and China, its leaves carpeting the water in a prickly mat.
- Season & buying
- The seeds are gathered from the pond floor at the end of the monsoon; popped and dried, they keep all year.
- Common length
- ~100 cm
- How to identify it
- Large round, puckered leaves bristling with spines
Purple leaf undersides
Black round seeds that pop into white puffs
On the plate
Airy, neutral and faintly nutty, like popcorn that forgot about the corn.
Avoid: Toasting it on high heat: it scorches outside and stays chewy inside; low heat and patience.
In Bihar the harvest is done by diving: fishermen gather the seeds by hand from the mud, then pop them in searing-hot pans.
In Umay recipes
One Umay recipe calls for it.
