Boiling or steaming is commonly used.

Follow a trusted recipe for your specific species and size rather than relying on an arbitrary cooking time.

Step 3: Let them cool

The shells can become hot and difficult to handle.

Allow them to cool enough to work with safely.

Step 4: Remove the shell

Carefully crack or cut away the hard exterior.

Avoid the pointed projections.

Step 5: Eat the cooked kernel

The pale interior can be eaten as a simple snack or incorporated into other recipes.

What Should You Not Do?

Don't:

Eat an unidentified wild fruit simply because it looks like something you've seen online.

Don't:

Assume that every water caltrop from every region is equally safe.

Don't:

Eat aquatic plant material raw without understanding the food-safety risks.

Don't:

Consume fruits that appear spoiled or contaminated.

And don't:

Release leftover live plants or seeds into local waterways.

These precautions are simple, but they're important.

The Most Interesting Part Is What's Hidden Inside

Perhaps that's what makes the fruit so fascinating.

From the outside, it looks almost impossible to eat.

The dark shell is rough.

The horns make it look intimidating.

The shape is completely unlike most familiar fruits.

But inside is a pale, starchy kernel that has been used as food for generations.

It's a reminder that appearance doesn't always tell us much about what something is.

Final Thoughts

If you came across the strange horned fruits shown in the photograph and wondered what they were, they appear to be water caltrops from the genus Trapa, sometimes called water chestnuts, buffalo nuts, bat nuts, or singhara depending on the region.

They are aquatic fruits with a hard, distinctive shell surrounding a starchy edible kernel.

Traditionally, they are cooked before the shell is removed and the interior is eaten. They can be enjoyed as a snack or incorporated into various dishes, and their edible portion provides carbohydrates and several nutrients.

But there is one point worth remembering above everything else:

Don't eat an unfamiliar freshwater plant simply because someone identifies it from a photograph.

If these were given to you by a neighbor, ask where they came from and how they were harvested. Confirm the identification, and if they're intended for food, use a reliable preparation method that involves thorough cooking.

Once properly prepared, however, these bizarre-looking fruits can become a fascinating example of how traditional foods can look completely unfamiliar while having a long culinary history.

What looks like a strange black object covered in horns may actually be a traditional freshwater food hiding a surprisingly mild, starchy center.

Sometimes, the weirdest-looking foods in nature have the most interesting stories behind them.