Fruits and Nuts · FFET10353
Guilin water chestnut
Grown in Lipu, Guilin, water chestnuts are sweet and crisp, used in cooking or processed into starch.
Melons, fruits, and nuts and seeds such as chestnut and walnut.
Water chestnuts, also called mati, are the sweet, crisp underground corms of an aquatic sedge. Material dated April 17, 2025 lists Lipu in Guilin as a growing area and December through March as the main market season. They can be peeled and eaten, cooked, or processed into starch for cakes.
What
Water chestnut is a perennial sedge with edible, dark-brown, flattened underground corms. Also called mati, it is grown in Lipu, Guilin.1,3
When
Water chestnuts are mainly marketed from December through March, according to material dated April 17, 2025. Li Shizhen's Ming-dynasty Bencao Gangmu records winter and spring digging under wuyu, but does not mention Guilin, so it cannot establish an origin date for the Guilin crop.2,3
Where
The main growing regions include Guangxi, Jiangsu, Anhui, Zhejiang, Guangdong, Hubei and Hunan. Water chestnuts are also grown in Lipu, Guilin, though only one trade article in the available material supports this location.1,3
How
Water chestnuts grow in warm, wet conditions in shallow paddy water and are dug in winter and spring. The corms can be peeled and eaten, cooked, or processed into starch for water chestnut cake.1,2
Why
Water chestnuts have a sweet, crisp bite. Lipu water chestnuts are sweet and lack a fibrous texture.1,3
Impact and influence
A 2025 trade article identifies Lipu water chestnut as a national geographical indication product, but no corresponding official notice is available to verify this. A 2022 overview of Guilin agricultural geographical indications and a 2023 report on Guilin's geographical indication work omit water chestnuts; this does not establish that they are unregistered. The available material also provides no reliable production figures for Guilin water chestnuts.3,4,5