Dear readers, can you guess what it is? An alien landscape, you say? Why yes, it looks just like the strangely pockmarked surface of a distant and mysterious planet. With a shiny round space capsule just landed amidst the green and rugged landscape.
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| The lotus flower (photo by T. Voekler) |
I admire the lotus flower 蓮花 so much. This hardy aquatic plant, sprouting from the sticky mud of the river bed, produces flowers of inspiring grace and elegance. Let’s be clear, this flower isn’t just about good looks. The flower, seed, leaf and stem are used for healing purposes in traditional medicine.
This is the show that started it all. We were in Guangzhou 廣州. It was late and we were angry again. What can I say, we get hungry when we travel. We came across this food cart, filled with fresh fruit of all kinds: plums, mangosteens, jujubes… Woo-hoo! And then there were the lotus seed pods! OH! What the hell?! What were these lotus seed pods doing on a fruit cart? They never seemed to me to be presented as fruits. I’ve actually only seen the pods in lakes and ponds where lotus flowers bloom.
As for the lotus seeds themselves, we have only seen dried lotus seeds. Which are wonderful when used in Chinese desserts and pastry fillings.
I asked the lady in charge of the fruit cart what fresh lotus seed tasted like. He assured me that the fresh lotus seed had a refreshing, clear and slightly sweet flavor. We bought one to try it out. Boy, I wish we had gotten more…
Back at the hotel we rinsed our beautiful lotus seed pod well under running water. The texture of the pod is quite spongy with the seeds suspended in their own compartments. To access the seeds simply tear off the spongy pod to release the seeds.
The seed we extracted from the pod was light green in color. At first I wasn’t sure. Was this it? Should we just put it in our mouths? We remembered that dried lotus seeds are usually white, so we thought there must be a next step.
After digging around a bit with our fingernails we realized that the green part was a skin around the creamy white seed inside. Dig in enough to grab the skin and start peeling it!
The inner creamy white lotus seed with the green peel completely removed. Now the fresh lotus seed is ready to eat. Pop that beautiful creamy white seed in your mouth and try this fruity one? crazy? delight.
In fact, this fresh lotus seed doesn’t have much fruit or nut flavor. The texture is crunchy and delicious. The taste is of the most refreshing light sweetness. It was so beautiful! Like the best candy ever, but at the lowest level of delicious sweetness and the highest level of pleasant crunchy texture.
This is the pod, emptied of all the seeds, devoured by us, elves hungry for amazing midnight snacks. I can’t believe how delicious fresh lotus seeds are! Why hadn’t I been informed of their kindness before?! Verdict: INCREDIBLY delicious and I’m really sad to be back home in Hong Kong and not at all sure if we will be able to find these fresh lotus seeds here. 😭
No matter, let us know if you find them in Hong Kong and be sure to try some if you come across these delicious, adorable lotus seed pods on your travels. Best luck with food on all your foodie journeys!
