Nutritive value of water chestnut (Singhara).

Water chestnut (Trapa bispinosa; Hindusthani
-Singhara) is an aquatic plant which is grown in
different States of the country. The fruit when
tender is eaten raw and when mature usually after
being cooked. The dried fruit is also made into
flour and used as a partial substitute for cereal
flours in various food preparations. The chemical
composition of the dried fruit as reported by Aykroyd
(2) shows that it is similar to that of the common
cereals. The present investigation deals with
(i) the value of Singhara as a partial or complete
substitute for cereals in poor vegetarian diets and
(ii) the biological value of its proteins as compared
with wheat proteins.