Tigernut

The tigernut, or chufa, is the small, wrinkled, sweet underground tuber of the yellow nutsedge (Cyperus esculentus), a grass-like sedge — not a nut at all, but a swollen storage nodule on the plant's roots that is eaten and used like one. Pea-sized, golden- to chestnut-brown and deeply furrowed, it tastes sweet and nutty with a coconut-like warmth and a firm, fibrous, almost chewy bite. Dried tigernuts are the foundation of Spanish horchata de chufa, a sweet milky drink pressed from the soaked tubers, and ground tigernut flour has become a popular grain-free, gluten-free baking flour. High in resistant starch and fibre, the tigernut is among the oldest plant foods eaten by humans.