Lotus eaters

Tender chicken stuffed with lotus seeds and mushrooms wrapped in lotus leaves, and steamed. Pauline D Loh / China Daily

Lotus roots, pods and seeds are far from the soporifics described in Greek mythology, but in the hazy, lazy days of summer, eating lotus can be good for you. Pauline D. Loh shows you how.

The Chinese lotus is a flower that rises from the mud, pure and untainted. For this unique quality, it is honored as the floral icon of summer, just as the orchid is spring's herald and autumn has chrysanthemums and winter, the plum blossoms.

But it is also a plant valued for its medicinal properties from roots to seeds and almost everything in between.

Lotus roots are eaten mainly in summer, enjoyed in a cornucopia of dishes ranging from appetizers to soups.

It is boiled with pork ribs for a nourishing, heat-clearing tonic; it is sliced and pickled for a crisp, clean, crunchy appetizer; it is stuffed with sticky rice and slow-cooked in syrup scented by osmanthus flowers for a delicious dessert; and it is sliced thin and stuffed with minced pork for lotus "boxes".

In traditional Chinese pharmacology, the lotus root clears phlegm, cleanses the body of heat toxins and promotes better circulation. It is also believed to stem any internal hemorrhage.

Lotus leaves are used as wraps for a variety of dishes, the most famous being Beggar's Chicken, the aromatic bird that is baked in mud and cracked open at the dinner table.

Cantonese cooks and chefs from the Huaiyang region also use lotus leaves to wrap up delicate parcels of delicious morsels, including glutinous rice and chicken that is steamed within the leaves.

In Beijing, my sisters-in-law boil the lotus leaves in water and drink it, because they swear that's the best summer cooler.

Fresh lotus pods are now in season, and in the historic town of Jingzhou, a strategic battle point during the Three Kingdoms period, modern farmers are selling lotus pods on Taobao.com. The pods cradle fresh lotus seeds, which are fresh, tender and sweet and edible on their own as a refreshing, if fiddly snack.

It's a bit fussy to eat, because you have to tear open the pods, then slowly remove the tough skin and thin protective filament around the seeds. And before you crunch into the tender seeds, you have to squeeze them open and eject the immensely bitter shoot hiding in there.

These tiny shoots are treasured as blood cleansers, and when we were teenaged girls, my grandmother used to make us drink their bitter infusion. That always cleared up the pimples overnight.

When the lotus seeds are dried, they become an indispensable pantry basic for soups or vegetarian dishes. And when it's time to make dumplings during the Dragon Boat Festival or moon cakes during Mid-Autumn, these seeds are made into a sweet paste for fillings.

The lotus is also revered as a religious symbol in both China and India.

The Chinese Goddess of Mercy, Guanyin, is most often depicted standing or sitting on an open lotus flower, and many Indian deities hold stalks of lotus in their hands - while their pedestals, more often than not, are blue lotus flowers.

That probably inspired the famous Tintin comics named after the flower.

The lotus is a plant that looks good and tastes good, and it deserves its place in Chinese history, literature, art and culinary heritage as an indispensable inspiration.

And yet throughout it all, it has remained accessible, and might I add, delicious.

Contact the writer at paulined@chinadaily.com.cn.