Ponk or Paunk (Gujarati પૌંક) is a Gujarati snack made from tender roasted sorghum grains mixed with other products such as sev. To prepare the snack, the green immature sorghum grains (called ''ponk'') are parched or roasted: the resulting product is also known as ''vani'' or ''hurda''. These grains are naturally available only during colder winter months, from November through February (the peak season is around December and January). Due to technological advances, they are now available even in late October and early March. Ponk_sellers

Ponk is delivered from the area around

Hazira Hazira is a suburb and a transshipment port in the Surat City in the Gujarat state of India. It is the west most end of Surat. Hazira is one of the major ports of India and the most important element of Surat Metropolitan Region. The town is ...

to local stalls in Surat district in Gujarat. Sorghum seedhead stalks are

roasted Roasting is a cooking method that uses dry heat where hot air covers the food, cooking it evenly on all sides with temperatures of at least from an open flame, oven, or other heat source. Roasting can enhance the flavor through caramelizatio ...

under charcoal and then grains are beaten out from the soft shelling. Ponk should be green in color and soft as a

gelatin dessert Gelatin desserts (also Jelly or Jello) are desserts made with a sweetened and flavoured processed collagen product (gelatin). This kind of dessert was first recorded as jelly by Hannah Glasse in her 18th-century book ''The Art of Cookery'', a ...

. Ponk is known to be regularly found in tall shaking grass.

References

Cereals Culture of Surat Snack foods {{food-stub