These are pretty tricky to find, on the basis that they don’t look like food, and unless you’re furnished with a picture you tend to assume when you see them on sale that they’re a floral decoration or similar.

Lotus pods are seasonal, but in the hotter months and just when the rainy season starts you can find them sold all along the roadside in major cities. Phnom Penh you can find them on the south end of Norodom Boulevard, which runs near the river north to south.

Second problem is knowing how to eat them. You have to dig out the acorn-like seeds from the flesh of the pod with your fingers and crunch on them. They are fresh tasting and nice, like somewhere between a nut and a vegetable.

Pods are alarmingly green, and when the seeds come free and start to rattle around these are the ones you shouldn’t eat as they dry your mouth out and taste quite bitter. Instead go for the green seeds still lodged firmly in the pod.

Lotus pods are found along major roadways in city when in season, and are also sometimes sold in posh local restaurants by roaming salespeople (read, small children). I bought these in a restaurant listed in Lonely Planet the other side of the river in local Cambodian eatery land.