FOOD RESOURCE COLLEGE OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SCIENCES, OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY
WATER CHESTNUT, ELEOCHARIS DULCIS, E. TUBEROSA,TRAPA NATANS, JESUIT NUT, LING, SALIGOT, TRAPA NUT, WATER CALTROPS, MA TAAI, PANI SINGHARA, APULID, HAEW, CHINESE WATER CHESTNUT
Grimes, William. 2004. Eating Your Worlds. Oxford University Press.
is the tuber of a tropical plant that is widely used in Asian cooking, its white flesh remaining crisp after cooking.
Hedrick, U.P. editor. 1919. Sturtevant's Notes on Edible Plants. Report of the New York Agricultural Experiment Station for the Year 1919 II. Albany, J.B Lyon Company, State Printers. [References Available]
is a plant of Europe and eastern Asia. The Thraceans, according to Pliny, baked bread from the flour of the seeds, and the seeds are thus used even now in some parts of southern Europe and, at Venice, are sold under the name of Jesuit nuts. Grant found trapa nuts on the Victoria Nyanza in Africa, and the Waganda use the four-pronged nuts for food. it is enumerated by Thunberg among the edible plants of Japan. Introduced into America, trapa is said to have become naturalized in the waters of the Concord River, Massachusetts. This water plant is extensively cultivated in China and furnishes, in its strangely-shaped fruits, a staple article of nutriment. It has run into several varieties. Williams says its cultivation is in running water and the nuts are collected in autumn by people in punts or tubs, who look for the ripe ones as they pull themselves through the vines over the surface of the patch. The dried nuts are often ground into a sort of arrowroot flour. The taste of the fresh boiled nuts is like that of new cheese.
Asia Food. 2008March5Accessed. http://www.asiafood.org/
Resembling a chestnut, although its shape is more symmetrical, the water chestnut is the underwater corm of a variety of water grass. A papery skin in shades of brown peels away to reveal a densely textured, white 'nut', slightly sweet and crisp to the tooth. The greatest appeal is that water chestnuts retain their texture when cooked. Featured in savoury as well as sweet dishes throughout China and South East Asia. Even when canned, the texture is not dramatically altered. Canned water chestnuts are readily available and widely used.
Flour made from dried, ground water chestnuts is more expensive than cornflour (cornstarch) and harder to dissolve, but when used as a thickener gives sauces a clear sheen and when used to coat foods before deep-frying, a delightful crunch.There are two other water tubers used like water chestnuts, but not to be eaten raw. One is the yellow-husked corm of the swamp plant, arrowhead (Sagittaria sinensis). The other is the shiny black nut of a floating water plant (Trapa bicornis), named for two horn-like protuberances that give it a rather sinister appearance. Probably just as well, since in its raw state it can contain a parasite that is harmful to the digestive system. Safely edible only after an hour's boiling, they also are eaten in China, combined with other ingredients, preserved as sweetmeats or made into a starch, similar to water chestnut starch.
This nut is related to the water chestnut known in southern Europe and eastern United States, which is the four-horned nut of T. natans. Preparation: Cut off pointed end and woody base and immerse in cold water immediately the skin is removed to prevent discolouration. Slice or dice and use raw or cooked.
Medicinal uses: Traditionally used as a medicine, it is yin (cooling) and said to sweeten the breath.
Other Languages:
Burma: ye thit eir thee
China: ma tai, po-chi
India: pani phul
Indonesia: tike
Japan: kuwai, kurogu-wai
Philippines: apulid
Thailand: haeo-song krathiem, haeo cheen
Vietnam: go nung
Excerpts from Bender, Arnold E. 1990. Dictionary of Nutrition and Food Technology. Butterworths, Boston.
Trapa natans also known as caltrops and singharanut. Seed is eaten raw or roasted. Analysis per 100g: 3 g protein, 15 g carbohydrate, 75 kcal (0.32MJ), 0.8 mg iron, 0.05 mg vitamin B1, 0.06 mg nicotinic acid, 16 mg vitamin C. Chinese water chestnut is the tuber of the sedge Eleocharis tuberosa, imported in cans from Hong Kong.
Excerpts from Passmore, Jacki. 1991. The Encyclopedia of Asian Food and Cooking. Hearst Books, New York.
This mahogany-colored nut resembles the chestnut, but has papery, buff-colored layers attached to the skin that come to a tufted point in the center. It is now available fresh in many Chinese food markets and if it is not peeled will keep for at least two weeks in the refrigerator. It has a semisweet, crisp flesh, rather like a jicama or raw potato, and can be eaten raw as a fruit, added to desserts or cooked as a vegetable. In Asia it is peeled, threaded onto short bamboo skewers and soaked in salt water. It retains its crisp texture when cooked, which gives an interesting dimension to stuffings, fillings for dim sum and soups. Although it is popular as a vegetable in Western countries, the Chinese do not appreciate it in vegetable dishes. Water chestnuts are used extensively in Thailand and other parts of Southeast Asia in sweet desserts and drinks, usu8ally combined with coconut milk and palm sugar. Canned water chestnuts, whole or sliced, are sold in all Asian food stores. Once opened, they should be transferred to a container of clean water; they will keep for at least a week if the water is changed daily. Another vegetable sometimes known as water chestnut is the two-horned water caltrop. Also known as ma taai (China), pani singhara (India); apulid (Philippines); haew (Thailand); Chinese water chestnut.
Hahn, Emily and the Editors of Time-Life Books. 1968. The Cooking of China. TIME-LIFE BOOKS, New York.
Walnut-sized bulbs with tough, brown skins and crisp, white meat.
Excerpts from Hawkes, Alex D. 1968. A World of Vegetable Cookery. Simon and Schuster, New York.
The Chinese Water Chestnut (Eleocharis dulcis, of the Sedge Family) has long been cultivated, particularly in rice paddies, in the Orient and parts of Southeast Asia. The name Water Chestnut has also been applied to the Jesuits' Nut, a totally different plant. The "chestnuts" are the roundish flat-based tubers of a rather nondescript-looking kind of rush. Known in Chinese as ma-tai, and in Japanese as kuro-kuwai, these little corms have a dull or glossy brown or ebony skin and firm white flesh.
