This article is general information, not medical advice. Fresh singhara is in the markets with the festive weeks. The notes below separate a food-table row, a retail quote and a wholesale mandi rate. They do not call the nut a treatment.
The same season's fruit notes on amla and guava follow the same rule: composition from the Indian food tables, and no disease claim. Fasting lists differ by house: Navratri 2026: a vrat food guide. Fruit portions where diabetes is the question are in Which Indian fruits are good for diabetes?.
What was selling in early and mid-October
Amar Ujala, on 8 October 2026, reported from the Mahendragarh vegetable market in Haryana. Singhara had started to arrive. Traders put daily arrivals near 10 quintals and daily consumption near 7 quintals, and the report says it was selling at about Rs 50 a kilo. Shopkeepers told the paper that supply was mainly from Uttar Pradesh, that buyers included people keeping a fast and others buying it for fruit meals and home use, and that demand was expected to rise as festivals came closer. The report says arrivals were still in an early phase, that more supply from Uttar Pradesh was expected, and that price can change with the gap between demand and arrivals, and can differ a little by quality and size from shop to shop.
News18, on 3 October 2026, reported from Chhatarpur in Madhya Pradesh. Singhara was selling at Rs 50 to 60 a kilo, and the report says raw fruit was at Rs 60 a kilo while Navratri demand was high. A seller, Jageshwar Prajapati, told the reporter that this fruit starts arriving before Sharadiya Navratri, that the variety then in the market was लालपारी घाटम, and that after Dussehra arrivals increase and the price comes down. Those arrival and price expectations are his account to the newspaper. This page does not turn them into a forecast. The report also calls the fruit a superfood in one sentence. That word is the article's, not a result, and it is not repeated here as a claim.
TaazaBhav's Madhya Pradesh page, which says it reads Agmarknet, showed one market on 17 October 2026. Kailaras APMC reported water chestnut at a minimum, maximum and modal price of Rs 2,300 a quintal, which the page converts to Rs 23 a kilo. The page's own history line puts a typical rate of Rs 2,500 for 14 to 16 October. One mandi's wholesale modal is not the Mahendragarh or Chhatarpur retail quote. This page does not average Rs 23 with Rs 50.
Per 100 grams, from the food tables
The figures are from Indian Food Composition Tables 2017. The entry is Water chestnut, Eleocharis dulcis, food code F016, in the roots-and-tubers group of that book. The number of regions is 1, so the table prints a single value and no standard deviation. The language index of the same book maps Shingara (Hindi and Marathi), Shingada (Punjabi), Singhara (Tamil), Pani singhara (Odia) and Pani phal (Bengali) to F016.
The October news reports use "singhara" and "water chestnut" and do not name a species. A market nut and this row may be the same food. This page cannot show that they are. The numbers below are the table's, for the food the table names.
| What IFCT prints for F016 | Per 100 g |
|---|---|
| Moisture | 73.34 g |
| Protein | 0.86 g |
| Total fat | 0.37 g |
| Total dietary fibre | 3.02 g |
| Available carbohydrate | 21.46 g |
| Energy | 400 kJ |
| Total ascorbic acid | 5.26 mg |
| Calcium | 37.15 mg |
| Iron | 0.77 mg |
| Potassium | 382 mg |
Energy is the table's kilojoule column. This page does not convert it. Protein at 0.86 g per 100 g is not a protein food. On the Dietary Guidelines My Plate for a 2,000 kcal vegetarian day, pulses are 85 g and fruits are 100 g. A water chestnut does not replace the pulse line. Total ascorbic acid at 5.26 mg is the table's vitamin C figure for this row. It is not the figure for amla or guava, which those notes quote separately.
The guidelines do not set a water-chestnut portion. They do say, on the My Plate note, to prefer fresh fruit and avoid juices. They restrict added sugar to 25 to 30 g a day where sugar is used, with cereals reduced so the calories still fit. They do not, in the lines read for this page, give a diabetes portion for singhara, and they do not give a potassium ceiling for kidney disease. Potassium at 382 mg per 100 g is a composition figure only. Anyone who has been told to limit fruit, carbohydrate or potassium should follow that advice. This page will not invent the limit.
Choosing, washing and keeping it
The guidelines say fruits and vegetables that are discoloured, physically damaged, shrunken, bruised, wilted or decayed, or that show insects and mould, should be avoided. They say vegetables and fruits should be washed thoroughly with potable water before peeling or cutting, and that foods should be washed well, but not repeatedly, to remove contaminants such as pesticide residues, parasites and other extraneous material. Cut vegetables and fruit should not be left soaking, because water-soluble minerals and vitamins tend to be lost. Wash the singhara before you peel it. Do not soap it. The guidelines do not give a soap step for fruit.
Perishable foods, the same book says, should be refrigerated, preferably below 5°C. This page did not find a tested number of days for fresh singhara in a home fridge, so it does not print one. Buy what you will eat soon. Discard any nut that has gone soft or mouldy. Dried flour is a different food, kept dry, and it is not covered by the fresh-row figures.
Fresh fruit and singhara atta
The News18 report says households dry the flesh and grind it to flour for Navratri, because a fast in that telling avoids wheat, rice and barley and treats this as fruit. That is a kitchen practice described by a seller. It is not a composition result. IFCT's F016 row is not a row for singhara atta. Do not move the 21.46 g of carbohydrate, or any other cell in the table, onto a bag of flour.
Whether a fast allows the fresh nut, the flour, cumin, lemon or salt is a household rule. The vrat food guide already says those rules are not the same in every house.
A home boil, a roast, and a chaat
The card under this article is a home method for two portions, written for this page. It has not been tested in a laboratory, and it has no nutrient calculation. Times on the card are a kitchen estimate for the recipe template.
Wash 250 g of firm nuts in potable water and discard any that are soft, cracked, bruised or mouldy. Boil them in water to cover until a knife meets little resistance, drain, and peel while they are warm. If you would rather roast them, peel and slit them first and stir them in a dry pan until the cut face dries and smells toasty. For a chaat, toss either version with roasted cumin, a squeeze of lemon and chopped coriander. Salt and green chilli are optional. Eat it the same day.
There is no sugar in that method. If you add a chutney or a sweet yogurt, that addition is part of the day's sugar and the day's food, not a free extra. People who have a diabetes portion from their own clinician should use that portion. The fruit-and-diabetes note linked above is the place for the general fruit question. This chaat is not a way to change blood glucose.
Fresh singhara, in the weeks these reports describe, is a seasonal nut you wash, peel and eat, or dry into a flour that is a different food. The food table gives composition for one named entry. It does not give a cure, a diabetes dose or a shelf-life.
This article is general information, not medical advice.
Sources
Ingredients
- 250 g fresh singhara, firm, with no soft, cracked or mouldy nuts
- Potable water, to wash and to cover the nuts if you boil them
- A pinch of salt, only if you use salt
- 1 teaspoon roasted cumin powder, for the chaat
- Lemon juice, a squeeze
- A few coriander leaves, chopped
- Green chilli, chopped, only if you want it
Method
- Wash the singhara in potable water. Discard any nut that is soft, cracked, bruised or mouldy.
- To boil, cover the washed nuts with water and simmer until a knife meets little resistance. Drain. Peel while they are still warm enough to handle. Do not leave them soaking.
- To roast instead, peel the washed nuts, slit them, and stir them in a dry pan until the cut face dries and smells toasty. This method does not set a temperature or a minute count.
- For chaat, toss the boiled or roasted nuts with cumin, lemon and coriander. Add salt and chilli only if you want them.
- Eat it the same day. This card does not set a keep time, and it has no nutrient calculation.
Yield: 2 portions
Questions
Which food is the nutrition table?
Indian Food Composition Tables 2017 list Water chestnut as food code F016, scientific name Eleocharis dulcis, analysed in one region. The language index attaches Shingara (Hindi, Marathi), Shingada (Punjabi), Singhara (Tamil), Pani singhara (Odia) and Pani phal (Bengali) to that code. The October market reports use the word singhara and do not print a botanical name. This page does not treat every nut in a rehri as the same sample the table measured.
What is in 100 grams, according to that table?
Moisture 73.34 g, protein 0.86 g, ash 0.95 g, total fat 0.37 g, total dietary fibre 3.02 g, available carbohydrate 21.46 g and energy 400 kJ. Total ascorbic acid is 5.26 mg. Calcium is 37.15 mg, iron 0.77 mg and potassium 382 mg. There is no standard deviation, because the row is one region. These are composition figures for the raw food in the table. They are not a serving order, and they are not figures for dried singhara atta.
What were the prices in October 2026?
Amar Ujala, on 8 October 2026, reported singhara in the Mahendragarh vegetable market at about Rs 50 a kilo, with traders putting daily arrivals near 10 quintals and consumption near 7 quintals, supplied mainly from Uttar Pradesh. News18, on 3 October 2026, reported Chhatarpur at Rs 50 to 60 a kilo. TaazaBhav, reading Agmarknet for 17 October 2026, showed one Madhya Pradesh market, Kailaras, at a modal Rs 2,300 a quintal, which is Rs 23 a kilo wholesale. Retail quotes and a single mandi rate are not the same price.
Is fresh singhara the same as singhara atta?
No. A seller quoted by News18 described drying the flesh to make flour for a Navratri fast, because the household treats it as fruit rather than as wheat, rice or barley. The IFCT row is for the fresh entry, not for a dried flour. Nutrient numbers do not carry across. The Navratri food guide on this site is the place for how fasts differ by family.
How should it be kept, and how much belongs on a plate?
The dietary guidelines say to avoid fruit that is discoloured, physically damaged, shrunken, bruised, wilted or decayed, or that shows insects or mould, and to wash vegetables and fruit in potable water before peeling or cutting. They say perishable foods should be refrigerated, preferably below 5°C. This page found no tested home shelf-life for singhara. It also found no singhara portion for diabetes and no potassium limit for kidney disease. People who have been given a portion or a potassium ceiling should use that, not this page.
Is this medical advice?
No. It is a reading of IFCT 2017, the Dietary Guidelines for Indians, and three market reports. It is general information, not medical advice. A named dietitian has not reviewed this draft. The chaat is a home method, not a treatment.