Cyperus esculentus (also called chufa,[3] tiger nut,[4] atadwe,[5] yellow nutsedge,[6] earth almond, and in Chishona, pfende[7]) is a species of plant in the sedge family widespread across much of the world.

[8] It is found in most of the Eastern Hemisphere, including Southern Europe, Africa and Madagascar, as well as the Middle East and the Indian subcontinent.

[12][14] It is often found in wet soils such as rice paddies and peanut farms as well as well-irrigated lawns and golf courses during warm weather.

The spikelets of the plant are distinctive, with a cluster of flat, oval seeds surrounded by four hanging, leaf-like bracts positioned 90 degrees from each other.

Cyperus esculentus is a highly invasive species in Oceania, Mexico, some regions of the United States, and the Caribbean, mainly by seed dispersion.

[12] Cyperus esculentus serves as a larval host for Euphyes vestris (dun skipper)[21] and Diploschizia impigritella (yellow nut-sedge moth) in North America.

[23] Cyperus esculentus is cultivated in Egypt, Spain, Nigeria, United States, Guatemala, Mexico, Chile, Brazil, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, India, Yemen, Morocco, Ivory Coast, Sudan, South Sudan, Gambia, Guinea Bissau, Ghana, Niger, Burkina Faso, Togo, Benin, Cameroon, and Mali, where they are used primarily as animal feed or as a side dish, but in Hispanic countries they are used mainly to make horchata, a sweet, milk-like beverage.Cyperus esculentus cultivation requires a mild climate.

Immediately after harvesting, the tiger nuts are washed with water in order to remove sand and small stones.

[citation needed] Tiger nut loses a considerable amount of water during drying and storage.

Dried tiger nuts have a hard texture and soaking is required to render them more easily edible and to ensure acceptable sensory quality.

[dubious – discuss] It is made from soaked, ground and sweetened tiger nuts mixed with sugar and water.

[31] It remains popular in Spain, where a regulating council exists to ensure the quality and traceability of the product in relation to the designation of origin.

The majority of the Spanish tiger nut crop is utilised in the production of horchata de chufa.

[33] They have a slightly sweet, nutty flavour, compared to the more bitter-tasting tuber of the related Cyperus rotundus (purple nutsedge).

A snack made by toasting the nuts and sugar coating it is popular among the Hausa children of Northern Nigeria.

Also, a drink known as kunun aya is made by processing the nuts with dates and later sieved and served chilled.

In Egypt, tiger nuts are known by the name Hab el-Aziz and after softening it by soaking in water, it is sold on hand carts as a street food.

Flour of roasted tiger nut is sometimes added to biscuits and other bakery products as well as in making oil, soap, and starch extracts.

It is also used for the production of nougat, jam, beer, and as a flavoring agent in ice cream and in the preparation of kunu (a local beverage in Nigeria).

[citation needed] Kunu is a nonalcoholic beverage prepared mainly from cereals (such as millet or sorghum) by heating and mixing with spices (dandelion, alligator pepper, ginger, licorice) and sugar.

This was originally thought to have been the cause of death of Benson, a large, well-known female carp weighing 54 lb (24 kg) found floating dead in a fishing lake, with a bag of unprepared tiger nuts lying nearby, empty, on the bank.

[38] It has been suggested that the extinct hominin Paranthropus boisei (the "Nutcracker Man") subsisted on tiger nuts.

[42] Chufa continued to be an important source of food in the Dynastic period, and cultivation of the plant remained exclusively in Egypt.

[43] The tomb of the vizier Rekhmire from the 15th century BCE, shows peasants preparing and measuring tiger nuts to make votive cakes as offerings to the god Amun.