Makhana

Euryale ferox · Phool makhana · fox nut · gorgon nut

Harvested from black water, roasted until it turns to air.

What it is

Makhana is the seed of the prickly water lily, harvested from pond mud, dried, then roasted in hot sand until the kernel bursts out of its shell as a light white puff. Each one is an irregular rounded lump about the size of a marble, with a small dull grey-brown patch on one side where the hull was. It has almost no flavour of its own and takes on whatever it is cooked in.

Where it comes from

North Bihar — Darbhanga, Madhubani, Purnia and the Mithila districts — produces the overwhelming majority of the world's supply, from ponds worked by the Mallah community who dive for the seed by hand. Mithila Makhana was granted a Geographical Indication in 2022.

What it's called

Makhana · phool makhana · fox nut · gorgon nut. Frequently sold as lotus seed, which is wrong: the lotus is a different plant with a different, smaller, greenish seed.

In the kitchen

Roasted in ghee with salt as a snack, simmered in milk with sugar and cardamom for kheer, or ground to thicken a gravy. It must be roasted until genuinely crisp or it goes leathery, and it absorbs liquid fast — in kheer it swells and softens within minutes.

What we know about the claims

Low in fat, reasonably high in protein for a puffed snack, and free of the frying that its shelf neighbours depend on. It is also permitted during Hindu fasting, which drives much of its consumption and most of its marketing.

Choosing and buying

Widely available in South Asian grocers and health-food shops, sold plain or flavoured. Buy plain. Look for large, evenly white puffs; small grey ones are under-popped and stay tough.