Brief introduction of Honghu lotus root

Lotus root belongs to the rhizome of lotus (or lotus), also known as lotus root, lotus root and so on. It originated in China and has been planted for more than 3000 years. It is a widely used aquatic cash crop, which is not only edible and medicinal, but also one of the top ten famous flowers in China and is deeply loved by the broad masses of the people.

Lotus root is a treasure, and its roots, stems, leaves, flowers and fruits have economic value. Besides lotus roots and lotus seeds, pollen, lotus leaves and lotus plums can also be used as dishes, drinks and health foods. Lotus root generally contains starch 10 ~ 20%, while protein 1 ~ 2% lotus seed contains starch and protein as high as 40 ~ 50% and 19 ~ 22% respectively, and all of them contain multiple vitamins. They are excellent aquatic vegetables and non-staple foods, which can be used for raw food, cooked food, processing and canning, and making candied fruit. Products are relatively resistant to storage and transportation, and the domestic and international markets are broad. They are important commodities for earning foreign exchange through export. Lotus root is also commonly used in traditional Chinese medicine. Lotus nodes, lotus roots, lotus hearts, petals, stamens and lotus leaves can all be used as medicine. Lotus is often used as an important plant material for waterscape layout in China gardens because of its colorful flowers and leaves and elegant fragrance. Lotus root is widely distributed and rich in resources in China. It can be found from the northeast to Hainan Island, from the East China Sea coast to the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. The main planting areas are in the Yangtze River Basin and Huanghuai Basin, with Hubei, Jiangsu, Anhui and other provinces having the largest planting areas. At present, it is estimated that the planting area of China is 500,000-700,000 hm2, and that of Hubei Province is about 90,000 hm2, of which the planting area of Honghu Lake is about 5hm2. In the future, with the development and utilization of lake beach resources in the vast water towns, Honghu lotus root belongs to the unique variety of Hubei lotus root, commonly known as "Miancheng lotus root". In the old days, the lotus root in Mianyang (formerly honghu city and Xiantao) was famous all over the world, and the lotus root in Mianyang was the sweetest.

Honghu Lake is the largest wetland reserve in China. The precipitation of aquatic plants for nearly a thousand years gave birth to fertile blue lake mud. The lotus root planted here has the following characteristics: the lotus root is slender and rich in starch, and the boiled soup is easy to rot. Lotus roots in Honghu Lake have also been removed in other parts of Honghu Lake, such as Caidian, Wuhan, but the lotus roots grown from Huangshan mud in other places are short and thick, and cannot be cooked badly.