The Water Nut

Among the many species of nuts consumed by humans for many centuries, there is one very unusual - a water nut. This interesting plant grows in nature and is cultivated in Japan, China, India, Central Africa and some European countries. In the kernel of the water-nut contains up to 50% of starch, 15% of proteins, 4% of sugars, 7% of fats.

This aquatic annual herb belongs to the family of the Rogulnikovs (Vodnorekhov). This family has about 30 different species. A water nut or, as it is called in another way, chilim, is most often found in low-current or stagnant waters. This plant is an endangered species. Chilim (water chestnut) is a real relic. It belongs to one of the oldest plants on Earth.

He has a rather long stem, rooted in the bottom soil. On the stem there are numerous thin loose roots. On the surface of the reservoir, he develops a rosette consisting of jagged, leathery rhombic leaves. These leaves are arranged in a mosaic pattern, since each of them has petioles of different lengths. Outwardly they are very similar to birch leaves. In these petioles are located "swimming bladders", consisting of airy tissue - aerhenhyma.

The plant blooms in May with single flowers located in the axils of the leaves. Flowers have 4 white or pink transparent petals and reach a length of 1 cm. Its flowers are visible only in the early morning and late evening, the rest of the day they go under the water. In the water their self-pollination is carried out. Fruits are located on the underside of the rosette of the leaves.

The walnut gives single-seeded bones-like fruit, covered with a hard shell. They have 2-4 shoots, called "horns". Inside the shell is a fairly large nucleus of white color. It is from the appearance of these nuts that the name of the family of plants , the Rogulnikov family, took place.

During the ripening of the nuts, the air cavities of the leaves cuttings increase considerably in size in order to keep the plant afloat. When the fruit fully ripens, the stem of the water nut breaks and the plant begins to drift along the river or just float on the surface of the pond under the influence of the wind. After the leaves rot, the nuts ripen to the bottom of the reservoir, where they cling to the ground with their horns. They can maintain their germination capacity for more than 10 years. For the germination of these nuts, a rest period lasting up to 0.5 years is necessary. Only when after this period the temperature of the water rises above 10-12 ° C, the nuts germinate. At the same time, their dense shell is opened, and from it appears a young root, growing out of a sleeping kidney. At first it stretches upward, and then, after describing the arc, it goes down and hooks on to the hard ground. The lightened nut shell gradually floats up and indicates the direction of the stem growing from the same sleeping kidney. Eventually, the scales of the shell decay, and the stem reaches the surface of the water, where a leaf outlet is formed.

The fruits of this plant have long been used as a food, and for the manufacture of various medicinal potions. They are even now often used in Chinese medicine. A water nut is used as a diuretic, astringent, tonic, sedative, diaphoretic, fixative, antispasmodic and choleretic. It is used for malaria, diarrhea, inflammation of the eyes, snake bites, dysentery, gonorrhea, whites in women. The Chinese consider the fruits of this plant an excellent means for strengthening potency.

Nut chilim can be eaten raw, and you can cook from it a variety of dishes. There are many ways to prepare it. It is boiled, fried, grinded into flour, crushed to produce cereals, candied, made from it spicy sauces.