Water chestnut

Châtaigne d’eau

What it is

It is not a nut but the corm of a sedge grown in flooded paddy, and it stays crisp at any temperature because its cell walls are locked together by ferulic acid, a bond heat does not break. Beetroot owes part of its own stubborn bite to the same chemistry.

In the kitchen

Buy them fresh, unpeeled and heavy for their size — canned ones keep the crunch but lose the coconut sweetness that is the reason to use them. Peel with a knife rather than a peeler: the skin is thick and the bitter layer sits just under it.

Goes with

Pork Shrimp Ginger Spring onion Soy sauce Toasted sesame oil Shiitake

In season alongside

Bettarazuke Cévennes sweet onion Hakurei turnip Jicama Napa cabbage Pak choi

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