Water Nuts
Water nuts are scattered all over the world and applied to a large number of water plants that produce edible seeds. These can include water lilies and seaweeds. The following are a few unusual ones:
-- Fox nut, gorgon nut (Euryale ferox -- Family Nymphaeaceae) is a curious plant native to the East Indies, but has been cultivated in China for several thousand years. In Greek, the word 'gorgon' means terrible. Why this name was applied remains obscurred. The seeds are spiny-covered, though, and found within a floating water-plant having an insipid pulp, but are supposed to have a cooling quality, as well as being nutritious. The fruit itself is round and soft and about the size of an orange, containing up to fifteen seeds the size of peas.
-- Lotus, Egyptian water lily (Nymphaea lotus -- Family Nymphaeaceae) is the sacred flower of many cultures. The white flower is quite impressive growing in shallow water and floating on the surface. The seeds float upon the water after being released from the fruit. They are then gathered, fried, and eaten.
-- Sea fruit (Enhalus acoroides -- Family Hydrocharitaceae) is a monotypic genus found in the Indian and Pacific Oceans found below the water mark. The nuts can be eaten raw or cooked and are about the size of a large walnut, containing eight or nine green seeds. Sometimes, the seeds are soaked in salt water, making them taste like waterchestnuts.
-- Water cinquapin, water-nut, rattle nut (Nelumbo speciosa -- Family Nymphaeaceae) is a water lily that now grows only in Asia and northeast Australia. It is supposed to be the sacred Lotus no longer found along the Nile, but still sacred in India, Tibet, and China. It was introduced to Egypt about 500 BCE. The black seeds of this plant are not unlike little acorns in shape and have a delicate flavour similar to pine nuts. The nutritional content is 62% starch and sugars, 18% proteins, and 2% fat. In some areas, the rhizomes are also eaten, tasting like artichokes, but the plant is generally grown less for its edible qualities and more for its beautiful flowers.
-- Water nut (Zostera marina -- Family Zosteraceae) is a marine flowering plant that grows in shallow seawater, and is one of the few plants able to grow and flower fully submerged. When ripe, the grain-bearing part breaks loose and floats to the surface where it drifts ashore to be harvested. The Seri Indians on the west coast of Mexico prepared these seeds by grinding them into flour.
-- Yellow pond lily, spatter-dock (Nuphar sp. -- Family Nymphaeaceae) is one of some twenty-five or more species found in the northern temperate zone. The seeds were an important food staple of the Klamath Indians of southern Oregon, who spent several weeks each year harvesting them and it was not uncommon for 100 bushels to be collected for winter use. The food was so important that a detailed bulletin was once issued by the US government detailing their harvest and use.
