Processing of Makhana:

After harvesting, the seeds need to be dried and roasted to make them edible. The original manual process typically involves:

• Washing: Makhana seeds are harvested from the water lilies (Euryale Fox). After harvesting, they are cleaned to remove dirt, debris, and other impurities.Initially, the seeds are sun-dried or lightly heated to remove any residual moisture and to make the outer shell easier to peel.
• Drying: The raw seeds are first sun-dried for a few days to reduce moisture content.
• Grading: Grading involves sorting the makhana seeds based on their size, shape, and quality.
• Roasting: The dried seeds are roasted, often in an iron pan or a similar utensil. The roasting process pops the seeds, similar to popcorn.
• Shelling and Sorting: The roasted seeds are then shelled, and the final product is sorted based on size and quality. The white, popped seeds are the final edible product, which is sold as snacks, ingredients in sweets, or used in various health foods.
• Polishing: Makhana seeds then undergo the process of polishing by rubbing the Makhana pops among themselves in bamboo baskets. Polishing smoothen the surface, provides more whiteness and lustre to the pop.
• Packaging: A mix of lined polythene bags and also ordinary gunny bags of different sizes are used to pack popped Makhana.

BlacknutAgrifood Machinery Pvt. Ltd. has now introduced the complete automated machinery fro makhana processing and production, which includes