Visiting the Lotus farms--Tainan County: Baihe

The Chinese Lotus flower represents creative power and purity amid adverse surroundings. It is also a symbol of the 7th month, summer.

The lotus flower is beautiful, but what I did not know is that all parts are edible. So, Ariel took me to visit an area (Baihe) which is famous for growing lotus. You can see the expanse of fields containing the lotus. The seeds, found in the center pod, are used in soups, cakes and other foods. The petals can be eaten with other foods placed on it or mixed in soups. And, the roots are dried and when boiled in water make a hot or cold drink.












After harvesting the seeds from the center pod, the seeds must have the outer covering and membrane removed as well as a central bitter green part. Here you can see me "helping" the farmers stripe the seeds. It was very tedious to get just a few seeds ready. What it reminded me of was growing up in Indiana and helping clean beans, corn, strawberries, etc... This family was all working together--even the littlest was helping.





The seed pods.


A sweet, gooey cake.