The day begins before sunrise. Harvesters wade into chest-deep pond water, feeling along the mud for spiky guri seeds with practiced hands.
Back on land, the seeds are washed, sun-dried for days, then sorted by size. The popping is pure percussion craft: seeds roasted in a hot pan, then struck with a wooden mallet at the exact moment the kernel puffs.
One skilled worker pops thousands of seeds a day. Machines are catching up — but the best grades are still made by hand.