Made in Bihar: How superfood makhana works its magic
fodi (a cramped workshop where makhana seeds are popped), settling down on stacks of folded jute bags in front of earthen chulhas (stoves) fed by corn cobs. An old television set plays a Hindi comedy in the background—the sound from the TV mixing with the cacophony of the room and providing a dim source of light. The quiet street is now pierced by the synchronized sounds of seeds being roasted and stirred with metal sticks, on flames blazing under four pans, before they are struck hard with a wooden mallet, making them pop.
Sahni’s niece, in her early twenties, handles the seeds in the fourth pan. When they are heated to around 250 degrees celsius, she quickly passes the blazing hot seeds to her brother with her bare hands. He then strikes them with the thaapi, or mallet, transforming them into the white, fluffy, globally trendy superfood we know as makhana, foxnut or gorgon nut.
The workers collect the fox nuts in large piles and will sort them later by size, pack them in plastic sacks, and sell them to a local trader. With most of Harda’s migrant populace having left for home by January, only a hundred families or so were around in March when Mint visited Purnia. At the time, agents were purchasing the makhana at ₹800/kg from the fodi.
“More than the price of cashew," says Sahni, 42, adding, “So this has been a good season". Sahni, his wife, brother, sister-in-law and their children came to Purnia last July, at the start of the foxnut harvesting and popping cycle. The family, from Darbhanga district, nearly 250 km away, will head home soon, as the fodis close.
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