Jingtang Lotus Roots: Difference between revisions
m typographical corrections |
|||
| Line 37: | Line 37: | ||
Firstly, the lotus root growing in the pond is thin and long, while the common lotus root is thick and short. |
Firstly, the lotus root growing in the pond is thin and long, while the common lotus root is thick and short. |
||
Secondly, after the lotus root harvest in winter, people do not need to plant it again. As long as there is water |
Secondly, after the lotus root harvest in winter, people do not need to plant it again. As long as there is water in the pond, the lotus leaf will start growing in spring. The lotus root does not need to be tended to, as long as the pond does not dry out. |
||
[[File:挖莲藕.jpg|thumb|dig the Jingtang lotus roots]] |
[[File:挖莲藕.jpg|thumb|dig the Jingtang lotus roots]] |
||
Lastly, this lotus pond belongs to the |
Lastly, this lotus pond belongs to the entire village. Every year after the winter solstice, the village chooses a day for drying out the pond and digging. The whole village takes part; men, women, and children, all dig for the lotus root. The person who digs out a root gets to keep it. When digging, people do not use a hoe, because the lotus root is thin and long. Also, they grow in the middle of the deep mud, so people must dig by hand in order to dig it all out. Because the lotus root here can be sold for a high price, everybody is very careful when digging. The longer the lotus root is, higher the price it fetches. On average, they grow to be one meter long. The longest found was two meters, weighing four to five pounds. |
||
==FootNote== |
==FootNote== |
||
Revision as of 07:35, 13 April 2018
 | This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these template messages)
|
The Jingtang Lotus Root (京塘莲藕) is a root vegetable, usually brown in color. The plant most likely originates from the town of Jingtang, Huadu District, Guangzhou City, Guangdong Province, and was originally cultivated for its body and seeds. The most commonly eaten component of the plant is its taproot, although its greens are eaten as well. This plant is an aquatic perennial. Under favourable circumstances, its seeds may remain fertile for many years. The oldest lotus germination recorded involved 1,300-year-old seeds which were recovered from a dry lake bed in northeastern China.[1]
History
The Jingtang Lotus Root[citation needed] was discovered over 800 years ago in a 20-acre lotus root pond. More than 1,000 villagers collectively dig lotus roots out of the ground by hand in mud ponds. An example of this is present within the village of Jingtang, Huadu in northern Guangzhou. It is a local custom to begin extracting lotus roots about seven days before the Dongzhi Festival (Winter Solstice) in the Chinese Lunar Calendar.[2]
Myths and legends
One day, Eight Immortals[3] wandered through here to go to Xiangu’s[4] home to eat green litchi. Suddenly they felt an evil air rush up. Tieguai Li, upon smelling it, said, "It is bad, there must be a plague." The Eight immortals had a look, only to see the barren hillsides and dried out fields cracking from the heat. Hundreds of villagers were skinny with weakness and some collapsed on the ground. Some were attempting to run away from the village. The Eight Immortals looked very anxious, Tieguai Lee smiled: "Do not worry, I have an idea." He took out a Dan from one side of the gourd, put into his mouth and bite. Then with saliva, he sprayed, at the moment, it was raining which made the barren hills and fields became green and pond was full of water. At that moment, the powerless villagers rushed to the side of the ridge to collect wild vegetables. After seeing Eight Immortals calmed down. However, Xiangu still worried. Because the villagers were thin and weak and had no food. She remembered the merciful Avalokitesvara gave her a few lotus seeds and said to her: "When you see the human suffering, you can throw the lotus seed to save the world .” So, she quickly took out lotus seeds from the sleeves, threw them down, which just fell into a large reservoir. In a while, the pond grew lotus flowers, lotus leaves. After seeing that the Eight Immortals left. This year the winter coming, when the lotus leaf withered. The experienced peasants knew that the lotus root was ripe, and led the villagers to dig the lotus root and eat it. It’s expected that everyone who eats this lotus root becomes strong and healthy, causing generations down the line to reap its benefit and subsequently thrive.
Appearance
Sections are slender - about 4 to 5 cm, with each small part measuring about 40 cm.
The shape of the plant is the same as a common lotus root, however, the appearance of the plant's body differs slightly. The lotus root, when produced from the pond, looks rough, thin and long. It is slightly thicker than a human thumb, with the length more than 1 or 2 meters; which looks like the tree roots.
Botany
The lotus roots are planted in the soil of the pond or river bottom, while the leaves float on top of the water surface or are held well above it. The flowers are usually found on thick stems rising several centimetres above the leaves. The leaves may be as large as 60 cm in diameter, while the showy flowers can be up to 20 cm in diameter.
Production
The former lotus pond was about 20 acres and produced about 20000 of lotus root. But from the end of 2008, the village set up an agricultural development company to expand the pond to 70 acres, the planting area reached 66667 square meters. With the increased size, the output rose to about five or six million kilograms. The stems of lotus roots are made of mostly water. When the water is evaporated during production, the nutrients within become concentrated.
Usage
Lotus roots are often pickled in rice vinegar, sugar, chilli or garlic. It has a crunchy texture of sweet-tangy flavours. In Asian cuisine, it is popular with salad, prawns, sesame oil or coriander leaves. Lotus roots have been found to be rich in dietary fibre, vitamin C, potassium, thiamine, riboflavin, Vitamin B6, phosphorus, copper, and manganese, while very low in saturated fat.
Lotus roots have been used in Traditional Chinese Medicine to treat a wide variety of ailments, from bleeding to haematemesis, and have been shown to contain antifungal, anti-inflammatory, antipyretic and antianxiety properties. Recent studies have also shown that the consumption of taurine, a free-radical found in lotus roots, to have many healthy effects, including easing inflammation, acting as a neuroprotector, protecting against diabetes, and helping regulate immune systems.[5]
Storage
Exposed to air, it will keep for 1–2 days. After being harvested, the lotus root quickly wilts, decays and becomes brown.
Distinct features
The Jingtang lotus root has three distinct features that make it different from the common lotus root.
Firstly, the lotus root growing in the pond is thin and long, while the common lotus root is thick and short.
Secondly, after the lotus root harvest in winter, people do not need to plant it again. As long as there is water in the pond, the lotus leaf will start growing in spring. The lotus root does not need to be tended to, as long as the pond does not dry out.
Lastly, this lotus pond belongs to the entire village. Every year after the winter solstice, the village chooses a day for drying out the pond and digging. The whole village takes part; men, women, and children, all dig for the lotus root. The person who digs out a root gets to keep it. When digging, people do not use a hoe, because the lotus root is thin and long. Also, they grow in the middle of the deep mud, so people must dig by hand in order to dig it all out. Because the lotus root here can be sold for a high price, everybody is very careful when digging. The longer the lotus root is, higher the price it fetches. On average, they grow to be one meter long. The longest found was two meters, weighing four to five pounds.
FootNote
- ^ Shen-Miller, J.; Schopf, J. William; Harbottle, Garman; Cao, Rui-ji; Ouyang, Shu; Zhou, Kun-shu; Southon, John R.; Liu, Guo-hai (1 February 2002). "Long-living lotus: germination and soil γ-irradiation of centuries-old fruits, and cultivation, growth, and phenotypic abnormalities of offspring". American Journal of Botany. 89 (2): 236–247. doi:10.3732/ajb.89.2.236. Retrieved 25 January 2018.
- ^ "Life of Guangzhou - Some 1,000 Villagers Harvest Lotus Roots". www.lifeofguangzhou.com. Retrieved 2018-01-18.
- ^ Eight Immortals: Chinese immortals including Tieguai Li, Guolao Zhang, Lizi Han, Guojiu Cao, Dongbin Lv, Xiangzi Han, Caihe Lan and Xianggu He, who often wander together.
- ^ Xiangu He: One of the Eight Immortals, Guangzhou Zengcheng people, the green litchi is from her.
- ^ Du, H; Zhao, X; You, JS; Park, JY; Kim, SH; Chang, KJ (2010). "Antioxidant and hepatic protective effects of lotus root hot water extract with taurine supplementation in rats fed a high fat diet". J Biomed Sci. 17 Suppl 1: S39. doi:10.1186/1423-0127-17-S1-S39. PMC 2994372. PMID 20804615.
{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: unflagged free DOI (link)
External links
- Lotus Root Inspection Instructions - USDA
- Jingtang Lotus Roots - Guanzhou city agriculture breau Template:Zh-hans icon