Makhana: Reinvented as the millennial snack of choice

Foxnuts or Makhana, a kind of dry fruit known as the "food of gods", has found its way to the dining tables as a fat-free organic food. Makhana processing is a long process and can take three years. But there is a growing demand for fat-free and organic foods and makhana fulfills both the criteria. The percentage of protein and carbohydrate in makhana is 12 and 79 respectively.

Makhana came into focus due to a project report prepared by the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) and approved by the Planning Commission for its large-scale cultivation in Madhubani district. Bihar accounts for 80 percent of makhana produced in the country. It is largely used on socio-religious occasions.

Makhana- the super snack

Today Foxnuts or Makhana are everywhere, vacuum-sealed reusable bags, at parties and during tea breaks, at work or on university campuses. If you have craving for a savory snack, choose from wasabi, peri-peri, mint, cheese and tomato, smoky barbecue, or chaat masala-spiked, all punchy. To feed a sweet tooth, there’s caramel, gur or chocolate-coated, all selling at specialty food stores, airports, corporate offices, and cafés across the country.

Makhana is one of the most common dry fruits due to its low-fat content, high contents of carbohydrates, protein, and minerals. The calorific value of raw seeds (362 k cal/100g) and puffed seeds (328 k cal/100g) lie close to staple foods like wheat, rice, other cereals, and some aquatic plants like Nelumbo and Trapa. The chemical constituents of the popped kernels (g/100g) are 12.8g moisture, 76.9g carbohydrate, 9.7g proteins, 0.1g fat, 0.5g total minerals, 0.02g calcium, 0.9g phosphorus, and 0.0014g iron (Nath et al. 1985) which makes it comparable to dry fruits such as almond, walnut, cashew nut, and coconut.

Both raw and popped makhana is fairly rich in sixteen type’s essential amino acids. The values relating to the essential amino acid index (EAAI) and chemical score (CS) of makhana are close to that of fish.

We have Abhishek Tripathy with us, a budding entrepreneur venturing into Makhana super snacks. With an exclusive coverage we bring you the excerpts of an interview with him:

You have been in touch with the food industry for quite some time and have made a startup into processed and packed Tal Makhana (Foxnut). Please share your journey for far.

I have started my humble journey in 2005 in sales, working as network marketing with Global Direct, a hard-core networking company works on a commission basis. I gradually realized sales is a revenue-generating skill and only motivated people endure. Coming from the small town of Uttar Pradesh to fulfill my dream in the land of opportunity city called Bombay, now Mumbai, I always had a dream to achieve something big in life with no proper guidance, no direction, only the zeal to do extraordinary & fighting against the odds. I started with a small job as an event coordinator, event organizer, working with a call center while working I was also sponsoring my study it was tough to manage the day-to-day life.