# What are these things in grocery stores in Chinatown?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-things-in-grocery-stores-in-chinatown/767751
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [October 6, 2016, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-things-in-grocery-stores-in-chinatown/767751 "2016-10-06T04:29:18Z")
**Posts on this page:** 12
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)
#### Post date: [October 6, 2016, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-things-in-grocery-stores-in-chinatown/767751/1 "2016-10-06T04:29:18Z")
In the Chinatown in downtown Manhattan. In a box next to the live crabs and the shrimp and the various exotic berries and all that, there are a bunch of what look like black plastic handlebar mustaches. The signs are all in Chinese, so I have no idea what they’re called, or if they’re animal, vegetable or fungus. Does anyone know what the things I’m describing are?
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### Author:  [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)
#### Post date: [October 6, 2016, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-things-in-grocery-stores-in-chinatown/767751/2 "2016-10-06T04:40:54Z")
Hmm. Look like mustaches in the sense that they’re sort of fuzzy? [_Fat choy_ or black moss](http://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/black-moss-or-fat-choy-used-as-vegetable-in-high-res-stock-photography/87752768), maybe?
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### Author:  [@Pork\_Rind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pork_Rind)
#### Post date: [October 6, 2016, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-things-in-grocery-stores-in-chinatown/767751/3 "2016-10-06T04:44:23Z")
[Ling nuts?](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_caltrop)
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### Author:  [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)
#### Post date: [October 6, 2016, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-things-in-grocery-stores-in-chinatown/767751/4 "2016-10-06T04:59:36Z")
Thanks, Pork Rind, those look like the right things. So that’s what water chestnuts look like in the raw - very interesting, never would have guessed.
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### Author:  [@Washoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Washoe)
#### Post date: [October 6, 2016, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-things-in-grocery-stores-in-chinatown/767751/5 "2016-10-06T05:25:29Z")
When I saw **Kimstu** ’s post, my reaction was “that’s gotta be it, but why do they _comb them_ at the stores where **cmkeller** shops?” But when I clicked **Pork Rind** ’s link, my reaction was “oh yeah—that’s _really gotta_ be it.” But man, now I REALLY want to know for sure what the fuck they are. I’d even try one if you offered it to me. And is it a _faux pas_ to dunk them in the wasabi?
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### Author:  [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)
#### Post date: [October 6, 2016, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-things-in-grocery-stores-in-chinatown/767751/6 "2016-10-06T05:55:08Z")
Can’t sleep. [Water Caltrop](https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=water+caltrop&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjhpt7ZvcXPAhXHJcAKHU4aDo0Q_AUICCgB&biw=1920&bih=950#imgrc=NM9x_pN_rR56UM%3A) will eat me.
Confusingly, they’re known as water chestnuts, but are not the same thing as the water chestnuts most commonly found in Chinese cuisine. Common water chestnuts are the tuber of an aquatic rush related to Tigernuts(Chufa) - I’ve seen Water Caltrop plants offered for sale as pond ornamentals here - but never actually seen the seeds before.
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### Author:  [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)
#### Post date: [October 6, 2016, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-things-in-grocery-stores-in-chinatown/767751/7 "2016-10-06T06:30:25Z")
I think **cmkeller** has been looking at those things upside-down. They are clearly not handlebar mustaches but horned devil-faces.
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### Author:  [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)
#### Post date: [October 6, 2016, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-things-in-grocery-stores-in-chinatown/767751/8 "2016-10-06T06:44:09Z")
Satan’s nuts.
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### Author:  [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)
#### Post date: [October 6, 2016, 7:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-things-in-grocery-stores-in-chinatown/767751/9 "2016-10-06T07:09:26Z")
I’ve only ever seen these called “ling jiao” (rhombus-shaped horns). In Taiwan they’re a very common street food that get roasted:
Always been too scared of them to try =/ Freaky little demons.
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### Author:  [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)
#### Post date: [October 6, 2016, 9:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-things-in-grocery-stores-in-chinatown/767751/10 "2016-10-06T09:27:47Z")
> [@Kimstu](#):
>
> I think **cmkeller** has been looking at those things upside-down. They are clearly not handlebar mustaches but horned devil-faces.
No, they’re [buffalo heads](http://res.cloudinary.com/dk-find-out/image/upload/q_80,w_1440/MA_00086404_vghdpl.jpg).
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### Author:  [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)
#### Post date: [October 6, 2016, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-things-in-grocery-stores-in-chinatown/767751/11 "2016-10-06T12:13:51Z")
And they often carry disease that can infest your gut. It’s widespread in many places!
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### Author:  [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)
#### Post date: [October 6, 2016, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-things-in-grocery-stores-in-chinatown/767751/12 "2016-10-06T12:43:25Z")
Heh, with Halloween looming I was going to ask if they were made of wax.