Tiger nut (Cyperus esculentus) in Predynastic Egypt
Chufa (Cyperus esculentus) en el Egipto predinástico
- Date
- c. 4000 BCE · confidence low
- Place
- El-Badari, Sohag, Egypt
- Credited to
- Predynastic communities of Upper Egypt
- Field
- Life & health
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
Tiger nut tubers appear as offerings in Predynastic tombs of Upper Egypt, revealing a very early food and funerary use of this Nile plant. It later spread to other Mediterranean shores, where it eventually gave rise to horchata.
The tomb finds confirm use but do not distinguish between gathering wild plants and cultivation; the dating is broad and the history of domestication is still debated.
What it led to
- tiger nut as a sweet food, funerary offering and local barter item
- cultivation of tiger nut in the Nile valley and later in other Mediterranean regions
- basis of Valencian tiger-nut horchata, adopted much later