Raw fresh lotus seeds

[anna_wing]

A friend brought me some green lotus pods, and showed me how to eat the seeds. I've had them dried of course, and cooked in various ways (stir-fried, in stew, in sweet soups, as lotus paste for mooncakes and pancakes) but this was the first time I'd had the raw young seeds. They're edible and tender about a week or so after the flowers, and once the pods have formed, but will quickly get harder. Once they're nearly ripe they will be like rock and you'll need to soak them, or crack them like nuts. But right now all we had to do was pop them out of the pods, slit the soft, green outer casing with a thumbnail and eat the white seed inside. They're very nice, fresh and crunchy and just a little bit sweet. Very seasonal, of course.

https://www.publicdomainpictures.net/pictures/360000/velka/close-up-of-lotus-pods-and-seeds-background-15946634883za.jpg