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Food Information Kuwait

What is Banak?

banak

A friend emailed me while I was in Beirut asking if I could help him out with something. For awhile now he’s been pondering what Banak really is and what its called in English. He did a bit of research online and all he found was another blog that was asking the same question. So does anyone know the answer?

Picture taken from COLoriya

62 replies on “What is Banak?”

it has no name…. its like hommos…. in english.. it is also called hommos…. a friend of mine took some with her in the states and the airport secutiry didnt even know what it was, they wrote it down as “seeds”.

omg one of the things i miss about kuwait, i love banak, such a mysterious snack sold on all jabriya roundabouts…i have no clue what they’re called in english, just like i have no clue what “thermos” is called, you know those yellow thingies that are sold with banak….

“Tirmis” is “lupin beans”.
Wife and I found that out in Portugal. We ordered this fancy sounding appetizer and what came back was a bowl of tirmis

Banak is Banak in Engish.. it’s a type of sea weed that the get from the persain/arabian gulf .. its found in Kuwait and Bahrain and i think in Iran as well ..
It’s really REALLY BAD FOR THE TEEETH !!!

some people say it comes from trees (im guessing so people don’t get discusted from it being sea weed ) all i know …is that they boil and clean it before they sell it .. and in the old days, they would step on it with their feet coz it was just easier to clean that way 😛
if you guys really want to know, i’ll o ask my grandparents 😛 theyshould know the facts ..
oh and did i mention that THEY ARE REALLY BAD FOR THE TEETH!! And have 0 nutritional value!! (at least thats what my mother use to say)

i posted about this last year and the bloggers either thought it comes from seaweed or it grows on trees. i asked my dad and he said it grows on trees.

i’m not entirely convinced though. i’ll need to see a banak tree to believe that!

banak is a sea weed and not a plant as many people say ….mark do u like banak ?
and yes its bad for ur teeth . and as soon as u finish the bag u will find all the crust or the “shells”..on the floor and on the coach :dhehe

it grows on trees , in some places like Iran and Turkey. sizes and colors vary , some are light brown and some are dark. the Irani ones are usually the smallest, then the Bulgari (bulgarian) although the Bulgarian ones are bigger they are softer to crack, then comes the Turkish ones they are usually the hardest and biggest ones and mostly darker than the previous two.

They also make pickles from them when they remove their shell (or whatever it is called) specially in Iran..

It is frustrating, couple of months ago I found the english word of Banak, now the search results only the definition of Bank in english because Bank and Banak spells the same in Arabic.
If you would like to search, it is niceto know that Banak is used as feed for livestock in the USA.

they r salty coz they are kept in plastic cases/boxes for like days in water (w/ salt) . then they are put into large plastic bags or cases to be sold.

I really have no idea about banak, but the yellow thingies (turmis) is a kind of beans and called lupini beans…

i asked the same question last year i think on my old blog.. i’m still curious to know what it’s called in english.. maybe we should name it ourselves and we could introduce it in the u.s and we’d get alot of money for introducing (insert name here) to the world.. ok i’m rambling 😀

It is a nut seed just like other nuts( almond,waulnut,etc ) except it is very small. The plant is a small bush.It is a land plant. It has a skin like all fresh nuts.The skin is removed by rubbing them agains each other ( previously with feet & sea water to make them salty ) now adays they are cooked to losen the skin (thus the water inside ) & then rubbed with sea salt for the salty taste (Ozmossis )
No english name as they don’t have it. The one from Iran has better taste but deffinitly not good for your teath specially if not cooked well or dried up afer few day from buying

i think those are water chestnuts.. u boil them and peel the skin off and just have them right? didnt know they were bad for the teeth

OK, so far no has a goos answer because everything has a scientific name, once you find that you could easily find tons of information about it and its species. I hope a scientist sees this post!!

holla: WTF ? SANDNIGGER ? how racist is that!!! ?? and what the FU** is ‘disguesting’ ???
— LOOOOOOOOSER !!!!! —

BANAK originate from the costal towns and cities of persia. The history behind it s that sailor use to stock pile them on ther ships because it does not rot that easy. and for the person who Wrote bulghari, it doesnt mean its bulgairian, its just the term for the bigger ones its a farsi word

seaweed seeds, they step on it to get it out of the plant, ya step on it, with their bare feet. so ask whenever you buy banak if they used thier feet, or a machine

Banak is allowed into the US, since it is cooked (boiled) and cannot be replanted. I have taken it through customs many times and did not have any issues after it is inspected.
But I am still wondering what is the Iranian name for this seed?
Or is anyone knows the english or scientific name?

Banak are seeds from a tree.. you sometimes get twigs in the bag along with the banak. I was just in Kuwait and picked up 10 bags to bring back to Canada. The customs guy asked what I had and I told him they were seeds that were eaten as a snack. He just wanted to know if they could be planted and I said no.

The best way to eat them is to cradle them between 2 of your molars (your back teeth) and apply pressure gradually until it cracks, then move the two halves apart and get the inside out and enjoy. If you break the the inside along with the outside into two halves, use your incisor to splinter the half further and get the inside part out.

Taha

Banak is the common name for a Central American, medium-large, tropical forest tree of the Genus: Virola, species: koschnyi often growing to 100′ in height, and having a trunk diameter of up to 40″. It has the very unusual property where, if a cut is made through the bark, the sap that flows is the color of blood. The tree has medicinal properties, and is the subject of much study in the scientific/medical community.

i love banak i used to have lots of it and i used to eat lots of it when i was in kuwait and was working near fahad salem street in kuwait city i was in kuwait for about 22 years if u eat this u need to have a strong teeth to crack it open!!!! but it tastes good yummyyyyyy!!!!!!!!!!

I read so many comments about this…Honestly, i had the same question in my mind ‘what is banak?’…but guess what sometimes its best to enjoy the snack and leave the origin…if you like it buy it more and if you don’t, well..buy something else 🙂
Weed, bush, seed whatever it is…i LOVE it!

Wow all this time and still no legit answer….
I wonder what vitamins/minerals it contains. Does anyone know what is it good for?

Banak is actually a “VIROLA species – Baboen”.
It’s the seeds of a tree that grows in the Middle East. the way Banak is made is by leaving it soaked in the sea to get its spacial unique salty taste.
IT IS NOT SEA WEED!!!!!

I agreed with you Muhammad, its not sea weed, because i found benak in raw form, there is greenish coated like algae on seed, i have tasted raw, it was no saltish and even from the inside shell. i boiled in salt water, rubbed benak in between my palm to remove soften green algae and finally got perfect banak, in Pakistan there is no available even nobody knows but forunaitly i found from a place where goods are imported from Persia , so i have it atleast no matter in raw from shaped. love benaks:)

I was born in Kuwait but national of Pakistan. I use to eat benek love it, after a long time finally I found benek in Pakistan, the funny thing the seller man himself didn’t know what benak, i found it raw condition as you saw dark brown colored which is cooked or processed form of benek. I have found in Pakistan which is covered with greenish algae get very soften if soaked in water and boiling. so i did some boiled raw banak in saltwater, rubbed them in between my palm to remove softened algae on it, and get perfect benak. wow, . now i have banak here in Pakistan even nobody knows here and eaten benak in Pakistan. any one want benek i can supply them. row or processed which can be done by my self

I must messages my cousin in Kuwait to get me some next time he is headed my way….I remember buying them from old ladies sitting on the pavement outside old souk in kuwait city. Crush them between your teeth and the salty flavour explodes in your mouth

The mystery still unsolved, let me know once you find a vendor who sells banak, I will pay for your order + shipping as well.

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