Water chestnuts - the edible kind

[SarrissUK]

Hi all,

I work for a pond plant place, which in itself is really interesting and I had a customer ring up asking if our water chestnuts are edible. He believed that they're not, but he'd love to know for sure, as he's been looking to grow the water chestnuts you find in asian cuisine.

I love them too, so me and my boss started looking into it. Turns out that the water chestnuts we sell aren't the kind you find in a chinese dish, but we figured out which ones we should get. We can't find anyone stocking them in the UK either, so I thought I'd ask you clever lot - do you/have you grown them? Where did you get hold of them? I hear they're quite vigorous and undemanding to grow, but I'd love to hear if anyone has personal experience!

[Jay-ell]

I did look but couldn't find Chinese Water Chestnuts (Eleocharis dulcis) anywhere it's a sedge and you eat the tubers.
Water caltrop (Trapa natans) is also known as the water chestnut and is also edible but I think it's the seeds you eat on these..

[veggiechicken]

I asked about these years ago .............and got nowhere I blame Snadger - its always his fault
http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...uts_61951.html

[Jay-ell]

Back to blaming Snadger.
Ah, that old chestnut

[SarrissUK]

haha Poor Snadger lol

That's exactly the varieties we were talking about Jay. We sell the trapa natans, and looking around to see if we can maybe find a supplier of eleocharis dulcis too I'll report back when I know more! I'd love to grow them myself

[veggiechicken]

Garden Adventures: Water chestnut (Eleocharis dulcis)

[Mr Bones]

A passable substitute for water chestnut is Jerusalem artichoke; peeled, sliced and thrown in right at the end so they hardly cook. The texture and taste is about right but of course there's the unfortunate side effects.

[SarrissUK]

Thank you VC! Wow, bit pricey on ebay - I found some for sale, from America
https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_f...ulcis&_sacat=0

Mr Bones, I can't eat Jerusalem artichoke for that very specific reason lol

[Jay-ell]

As an alternative you could try duck potato - Arrowhead is a native plant related to the wapato and has edible tubers. It's also something you're probably already selling

[veggiechicken]

Could be useful https://permies.com/t/15503/Growing-...ocharis-dulcis

[veggiechicken]

Just wondering............has anyone looked for fresh water chestnuts in an Asian store? Maybe they could be grown from those (if they sell them)

[Jay-ell]

There's a few good Asian supermarkets round here but I could only find tinned.