11/29/2018 Makhana’s moment - Livemint

Home » Leisure

Makhana’s moment
How a heartland winter favourite was reinvented as the millennial snack of choice
Last Published: Fri, Dec 16 2016. 03 24 PM IST

Neha Bhatt

Enter email for newsletter Sign Up

A mixed vegetable tart with ‘makhana’ brittle at Indian Accent. Photo: Indian Accent

It’s everywhere, in natty jars and vacuum-sealed reusable bags. At parties and during tea-
breaks, at work or on university campuses. Like savoury? Choose from wasabi, peri peri,
mint, cheese and tomato, smoky barbecue or chaat masala-spiked, all punchy and binge-
worthy. To feed a sweet tooth, there’s caramel, gur or chocolate-coated, all selling for
https://www.livemint.com/Leisure/mw1f95qKNTlU9WFJAsbw7L/Makhanas-moment.html 1/7
11/29/2018 Makhana’s moment - Livemint

Rs100-130 for 100g at speciality food stores, airports, in corporate offices and cafés
across the country. Select cinema chains are next on the cards, with popping machines to
complete the experience.

The humble makhana has come a long way. Its story is as stunning as it is little known.

Uninspiring in appearance—misshapen, off-white balls with specks of brown or black—

and chewy and tasteless when had as is, the makhana has long been a teatime favourite,
roasted in ghee and lightly seasoned, in Bihar (where it primarily grows) and pockets of
Bengal and Uttar Pradesh. It faded away in the 1990s as the markets opened up and were
flooded by newer, ready-to-eat snacks sold by multinational brands. Widespread water
pollution contributed to its disappearance: Makhana—also known as foxnut or lotus seed
—grows in stagnant water, ensconced in the pomegranate-sized fruits of the aquatic plant
Euryale ferox. As cultivation went down, prices shot up and it all but made an exit from
the heartland’s kirana stores.

If credit for its resurrection can be laid at a single door, it belongs to Satyajit Kumar
Singh. Around 2002, the Jamui-born, Patna-based Singh—then the owner of a BPL white
goods agency—met Janardhan (he goes by one name) on a Delhi-Patna flight. “He was
then the principal scientist at the Research Centre for Makhana, Darbhanga, under the
Indian Council for Agricultural Research,” says Singh. “He was the one who told me that
makhana, if given time and dedication, could become a big industry.”

Over the next few years, Singh diligently visited makhana-growing areas, including
Madhubani, Katihar, Sitamarhi, Purnia and Samastipur, registering farmers and setting
up procurement centres. In 2006, Singh founded a processing unit called Shakti Sudha in
the Pataliputra industrial area and began buying kilos of makhana, sun-dried, roasted
and traditionally popped. Today, Shakti Sudha procures, processes and packages
makhana in various forms (powder, whole, flakes) and sells it both wholesale and retail.

“The makhana industry can add big money to the Bihar economy,” says Singh, who is
now tied up with 15,000 farmers across a little over 12,000 hectares (with each hectare
yielding a little less than 1 tonne of makhana annually) and claims they get paid Rs250
for a kilogram, up from Rs50 a decade ago. “If we tap the online market inside and
outside the country, gorgon nut—which is what it’s being called for export purposes—can
grow from a Rs100 crore to a Rs1,000 crore product.”

What works for makhana is its easy fit in the modern lifestyle, ticking all the boxes for
consumers who like quick-fix but wholesome snacks and, now, enough variety to keep
boredom at bay. Being odourless and bland, it takes on any flavour one chooses to dress

https://www.livemint.com/Leisure/mw1f95qKNTlU9WFJAsbw7L/Makhanas-moment.html 2/7
11/29/2018 Makhana’s moment - Livemint

it with. “Awareness of makhana’s nutrition content is catching on as well,” says Singh.

“It’s a high-energy, fat-free, high-quality carb-loaded snack.”

‘Matar makhana malai’ with duck ‘khurchan’ at Indian Accent. Photo: Indian Accent

At Divinutty, a Delhi-based dry fruit brand, owner Vishal Jain is also convinced makhana
is a gamechanger. It is currently his flagship product, available across the National
Capital Region, Chandigarh, Dehradun, Kolkata, Mumbai and Bengaluru. “When we did
a pilot launch two years ago, we found that makhana was a hit with the younger lot,
especially those who shop in premium stores, but are looking for healthy snacking
options. At that time, there were very few local players and the packaging was very low-
profile,” Jain says. “Of late, though, the trend has caught on and there is a flood of new
players.”

For instance, Sattviko, a company founded by Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee

students Ankush Sharma and Prasoon Gupta in 2013 to glamorize healthy snacks. Now
established, with cafés in Jaipur, Delhi and Gandhinagar, Sattviko launched flavoured
makhana four months ago. “Our focus is on a blend of taste and tradition. Makhana has
been traditionally used as fasting food, and somehow got lost in modern ways of eating
because there wasn’t perhaps an appealing way of serving or preparing it. So we wanted
to fill that gap. People are realizing that it can be used as an everyday food. Since
makhana is being sold as an alternative to junk, it seems to appeal to parents who want
to encourage healthy eating habits in their kids,” says Sharma, who will be adding
makhana kheer and makhana chaat to the menu at the Sattviko chain of cafés soon.
https://www.livemint.com/Leisure/mw1f95qKNTlU9WFJAsbw7L/Makhanas-moment.html 3/7
11/29/2018 Makhana’s moment - Livemint

In the fine-dining arena, chefs like Manish Mehrotra and Vikas Khanna have been
scooping it up for a while now. It makes appearances at Indian Accent, New Delhi and
New York, in dishes like the Mixed Vegetable Tart as a brittle and in matar-makhana
malai served with the duck khurchan. Khanna’s Junoon, in New York City, showcases it
in the Nadru Matar Makhana, while Puja Sahu and Vivita Relan’s restaurant The
Potbelly in New Delhi gives it the hero’s role in the Makhana Thali and Makhana Kheer.

“I even had a makhana kheer brûlée on my menu a few years ago. It’s a completely
unique ingredient, especially outside India, where it isn’t well known. It works very well
in fine-dining because it gives an impressive, fluffy look with its black spots, and a good
crunch. It adds a nice texture to the dish, and it absorbs juices and flavours in curries
very well,” explains Mehrotra, who, being Patna-born, had regular helpings of dal moth
makhana, makhana barfi, and gur makhana patti while growing up. “It’s interesting to
see the growing buzz around it and makhana in all the potato chips flavours.”

It’s probably true that home-roasted, ghee-coated makhana will rule in the hearts of
purists, but there’s a whole other generation munching on the new-age version for the
very first time. If it has made it this far, it’s because makhana is best-seller material—no
one can eat just one.

Spiced makhana. Photo: Neha Bhatt

Makhana any time

https://www.livemint.com/Leisure/mw1f95qKNTlU9WFJAsbw7L/Makhanas-moment.html 4/7
11/29/2018 Makhana’s moment - Livemint

■Roast with ghee, salt and pepper, pair with roasted poha, dal moth or any other
namkeen.

■Roast and grind into small pieces to make kheer or dunk in a bowl of milk and muesli.

■Powder and use in dough for a dose of easy-to-digest carbs in rotis or parathas.

■Use in curries with potato, paneer, peas, etc.

■Garnish just about any dish with roasted makhana for a good crunch!

■Try makhana in new avatars of peri peri, wasabi, cheese and tomato, mint, caramel,
gur.

First Published: Fri, Dec 16 2016. 02 57 PM IST

TOPICS: MAKHANA SNACKS FOXNUT LOTUS SEED BIHAR

You May Like Sponsored Links by Taboola

My son’s brain cancer is spreading. He’ll die without help.

Ketto

Top 5 Reasons to Buy Term Insurance Before You Turn 30

Coverfox.com

8 Months Blockchain Certi cation Program - Admissions Open!

Amity Online

A Proven Way to Sharpen Young Minds

Magic Crate

15 Forbidden Destinations You Can Never Visit

Far & Wide

https://www.livemint.com/Leisure/mw1f95qKNTlU9WFJAsbw7L/Makhanas-moment.html 5/7
11/29/2018 Makhana’s moment - Livemint

Flat 70% Discount on Swiss Luxury Watches, Sale Ends Today

Luxurycode

EDITOR'S PICKS »

How to make sense of the Mizoram matrix

RBI checking Yes Bank loan exposure to IL&FS,

DHFL, NBFCs

How Rajasthan has fared under the BJP-

Congress pendulum

https://www.livemint.com/Leisure/mw1f95qKNTlU9WFJAsbw7L/Makhanas-moment.html 6/7
11/29/2018 Makhana’s moment - Livemint

Home Lounge Specials

Companies Multimedia Technology

Opinion Money Contact Us

Industry Science About Us

Politics Education Advertising

Consumer Sports Mint Apps

Sitemap Brand Stories

DesiMartini Livehindustan

Shine Subscribe

Hindustantimes HT Brand Studio

Syndication HT Brand Leadership Series

HT Punjabi

Subscribe to our Newsletter

Enter your email Subscribe

Privacy Policy Terms of Use Mint Code RSS

Copyright © 2018 HT Media Ltd. All Rights Reserved

https://www.livemint.com/Leisure/mw1f95qKNTlU9WFJAsbw7L/Makhanas-moment.html 7/7