It's best to eat it cooked, not raw. Water chestnut grows in water and is easily infected with parasites. Eating water chestnut raw may cause some adverse reactions.

Raw food can retain nutrients to the greatest extent and has the highest nutritional value. When eaten raw, it will bring a faint fragrance and sweetness, which will help stimulate appetite and digestion. People with spleen-stomach deficiency and cold, female menstrual period, spleen-stomach deficiency and cold, blood deficiency and blood stasis should not eat raw.

Water chestnut, also known as horseshoe, is purple and black in skin and white in meat, sweet and juicy, crisp and delicious. Since ancient times, it has been called underground Sydney, and northerners regard it as Jiangnan ginseng.

Extended data:

Water chestnut tastes sweet and crisp and is rich in nutrition. Contains protein, fat, crude fiber, carotene, vitamin B, vitamin C, iron, calcium, phosphorus and carbohydrates, and can be used for cooking and starch.

Water chestnut contained in water chestnut has remarkable antibacterial function, and its texture thermal stability is also a remarkable feature of water chestnut. Water chestnut skin residue can be processed into canned food, water chestnut cake, water chestnut beverage and other products. At the same time, the water chestnut skin residue produced in the processing process is rich in fiber and pigment, which can be further processed and utilized.

It is cultivated all over the country. Korea, Japan, Vietnam and India are also distributed. Water chestnut is only planted once a year, so it can't be produced all year round; Moreover, water chestnut grows in wet soil, with thin skin and much juice, which is easy to lose water, shrink and rot.

Reference: Baidu Encyclopedia-Water chestnut