Water Chestnut Bakery: A Rs 500-crore business idea

10 April 2021

Srinagar: Business entrepreneurs in Kashmir are today experimenting with the novel idea of using **water chestnut (Goar in Kashmiri) as the basic ingredient in making Kashmir’s high-demand bakery and confectionary.**

While water chestnut has been in significant use for a variety of foods in Kashmir in olden days, its modern-day use has remained limited as a snack. Vast quantities of raw chestnuts go outside Kashmir, serving as raw material for several confectionary and pharmaceutical products. Farmers and traders, earning their livelihood from water chestnut, are happy today with the prospect of this water produce getting widely used as an ingredient of the much-consumed Kashmir bakery and confectionery. The prospect is likely to fetch them better financial returns and help them improve their socio-economic conditions.

Making bread out of water chestnut flour has been a practice in Kashmir since times immemorial. Now innovators in Kashmir have started making biscuits, muffins and other confectionery out of its flour. The only thing to be done now is commercial replication of this idea. And it is a Rs 500 crore business area.

Production estimates of water chestnuts

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There is an estimated 7000 MT annual production of water chestnuts in Kashmir valley. While most of the production comes from Wullar lake; Dal lake, Anchar lake, Shallabugh, Hokarsar and Haigam wetlands are other main sources of chestnut production. According to estimates, the average annual production of water chestnut from Wullar lake is about 4000-5000 MT and about 80,000 people residing in 28 villages on the periphery draw their livelihood from its extraction and trade.

Officials in Lakes and Waterways Development Authority say that there has not been a single study done so far to know the exact production of water chestnuts in Kashmir. Its production is believed to be around 2000 MT in Dal Lake and its peripheries.

“If the methods of extraction, processing, confectionery making and marketing are modernised, the state’s bakery industry could witness a healthy positive change. It is time for existing bakery makers and entrepreneurs to explore the opportunities”, Mian Javed, former Chief Executive Director of Wular Conservation & Management Authority told Ziraat Times.

Syed Zameer Hussain, one of the scientists at the Division of Food Science and Technology, SKUAST, Kashmir, involved in experimenting with use water chestnut as a raw material for food products, told Ziraat Times, “Importance of water chestnut in Kashmir dates back to the times of Sir Walter Lawrence when the main crop of the valley was destroyed due to floods in 1893; and the water chestnut flour saved people from starvation.”

Is it commercially viable?

Chairman of Kashmir’s largest chain of bakery and confectionary units, Muhammad Showkat Chowdhary expressed optimism on use of chestnut flour for bakery products.

“Why not, we must explore it and see how it works”, he told Ziraat Times.

“I believe that if it works, there is huge potential. It would provide employment to people dwelling in nearby areas of Wullar Lake and Dal Lake. Besides it will help in import substitution of flour used in bakery products”, Dr Chowdhary added.

This is what Just Baked has to say

“Bakery made of water chestnuts is scientifically proven to have medical benefits and will give impetus to local economy. It is a novel concept which has bright prospects to succeed. Water chestnuts are available in abundance. It will help local economy as well as help generate jobs”, Imtiyaz Ahmad, General Manager of one of Kashmir’s leading confectionery and high-quality bakery brands – Just Baked – says.

What products have been made of the chestnut flour so far?

Division of Food Science and Technology of SKUAST-Kashmir has already developed various products from water chestnut flour which include snacks, crackers and muffins.

All these products have high resistant starch content and low glycemic index values. Therefore water chestnut flour can be explored very well for development of gluten free products with low glycemic index values.

“SKUAST-K has successfully optimized the pre-conditioning process, for water chestnut decortications using the statistical package of Design-Expert version dxt-trial 8.01 (stat ease Inc, Minneapolis, MN USA),” says Zameer Hussain.

“Soaking water chestnuts for 45 minutes in water at temperature of 950C using water chestnut: water ratio of 1:1.5 has resulted in increase in resistant starch content and flour yield in comparison to existing practice of pre-conditioning. Scanning electron microscopy results also showed that by following the optimized pre-conditioning technology of SKUAST-K, the starch gelatinization and retro-gradation takes place which results in increase in resistant starch content”, SKUAST scientists have reported.

Health Benefits of water chestnut bakery – what Kashmir’s medical experts say

According to food scpecialists, water chestnut flour has high starch content and negligible fat content. Besides that it also contains proteins, minerals (potassium, iron, sodium and calcium),Vitamin B-complex (thiamine, riboflavin, pantothenic acid, pyridoxine, nicotinic acid), vitamin-C, vitamin-A, saponins, phenols, alkaloids and flavonoids.

Water chestnuts are high in fibre and have low glycemic index value, Dr. Nisar-ul-Hassan, President of a faction of Doctors Association of Kashmir told Ziraat Times.

“These properties make them prudent to fight diabetes, prevent heart disease and also help in checking unwarranted weight gain,” he said.

Use of water chestnut flour in bakery products is a healthy development, says Dr. Ajaz Ahmad, a Srinagar-based physician.

“It is found to contain good amount of nutrients and minerals which are beneficial for heart and in prevention of diabetics. Dried chestnuts are also helpful in keeping under check enlargement of prostate”, he further said.

Water chestnut offers numerous other health benefits. It is known to reduce:

skin dryness,
prevent wrinkles,
help in proper functioning of thyroid,
lower blood pressure,
keep normal heart beat,
reduces the incidence of heart arrhythmia and heart attack.
Besides giving nutrition to growing fetus it also protects pregnancy and decreases risk of threatened abortion. Being a good source of vitamin B6, regular consumption of water chestnut prevents eye disorders, loss of vision and age related muscular degeneration. Further Vitamin B1 found in water chestnut slows down the progression of Alzheimer’s disease and Vitamin B5 speed up wound and cut healing.

Improving Value Addition Standards and Supply Chain

Despite all the amazing health benefits and enhanced business prospects of water chestnuts, there is a strong case for improving the quality of its value addition and supply chain.

“Despite possessing many health benefits; change in colour, taste, flavour unhygenic drying and crude methods of decortications lead to less returns from water chestnut crop in Jammu and Kashmir”, says Dr. Zameer.

“Therefore scientific interventions through mechanization, processing and value addition are crucial for its shelf life enhancement, quality maintenance and product development”, he further says.

Current system of harvesting and marketing

Water chestnuts usually ripen in the month of November. Villagers living around lakes and waterbodies extract the nuts from water which are then processed and supplied to vendors in Kashmir as well as markets outside the state.

However, extracting chestnuts in Wullar Lake is not an easy job. Villagers living around the Wullar Lake say that nearly 80 percent inhabitants are involved extracting chestnuts from Wular to make their living.

“It has a huge business potential. One wishes its business potential is fully realized in Kashmir,” said spokesperson of Kashmir Traders and Manufacturers Federation, Farhan Kitab.

Export of raw chestnuts outside the state

Significant amounts of water chestnuts are exported outside J&K state for use of pharmaceutical and food industries.

“The problem is that farmers sell their collected chestnuts at very low prices to traders and merchants for export outside J&K. They don’t know the medicinal value of this product”, says Muhammad Amin, a chestnut trader in Sopore.

Many businessmen believe if the water chestnut replaces the traditional wheat flour in making some part of the bakery in Kashmir, its prices will go up and fetch better income to the farmers who extract the nuts. Moreover, almost whole produce could be consumed within J&K itself.