Admittedly my first feature is not at all a fruit, but it’s definitely exotic, weird and its own kind of wonderful.
I’ve known about lotus seeds my entire life, but it wasn’t until recently that I discovered it fresh.
Lotus seeds have always been a part of a lot of my favourite asian desserts growing up.
They are the silky filling in traditional mooncakes and mingle happily in Vietnamese sweet soup with dried longans, mungbean and jelly.
My mom bought them dried in packages, and I never gave them much thought. They were always just kinda there for texture.
My Vietnamese is good- not great. I found myself at a loss in translating during different parts of our trip. Partly from lack of practice for the past 8 months and because there are just some words in Vietnamese that I can’t find the English equivalent for. Especially when it comes to food names.
One afternoon, my mom asked Bruce as we were boarding a bus from Ho Chi Minh to Cho Moi,
“Bruce, do you know the fresh lotus seed? My cousin tell me she buy some and put in the fridge for us. We eat tonight.”
“Oh really? That’s great, Mrs. Duong!” He replied happily. “We use lotus seed at my restaurant for the soup. It’s a lot of work to take out.”
“Oh, yes!” My mom replied, “But I love it!”
“Me too,” Bruce answered, “But I’ve never tried it raw before.”
I looked at my mom, and then turned to Bruce,
“Lotus seed? What the hell is that?” I had trouble matching the English name to a possible Vietnamese name. Ah.
I asked my mom “You mean hat sen? You can eat that fresh?”
“Yes, honey,” She said slowly, a little amused. “Oh, vedy good! We eat tonight, ok?”
I sat back in my seat and started to day-dream about these fresh lotus seeds.
But mostly, I was a bit taken back- Did my mom just wink at me?
*
Just as my mom said, the pods were waiting for us in the fridge.
lotus pods in the flesh!
It wasn’t how I imagined the seeds to grow, but it made sense. I recognized the pods among the many stretches of beautiful lotus covered ponds during our drive earlier that day.
The sight of the lotus pods by themselves and up-close made me really, really uncomfortable. I have a slight issue with holes.
weird lookin’ thing eh?
Still, they’re beautiful in a weird, almost alien way.
As if they had eaten fresh lotus seeds together for years now, my mom and Bruce wasted no time in breaking down the pods.
I watched as they popped the green seeds out of its strange pod and peel it to reveal the white colour I’m more familiar with.
After a few minutes of watching, I joined the fun. To add to its already interesting look, the pods themselves are spongy. You can use a knife to remove the seeds, but fingers get the job done just as easily.
spongy lotus pods
it’s quite easy to take out the seeds
Peeling the green membrane is the tricky/fun part, depending on how you want to look at it. It’s a tough, thin skin. After a few, I decided I preferred to bite the whole thing in half and pop out the seed that way.
fresh lotus seeds removed from their pod
“You see this part here, Steph?” Bruce opened one of the seeds, revealing a green stem “At the restaurant, I always have to remove this first. It’s really bitter.”
bitter green stem inside each lotus seed
My mom intervened immediately, “You can eat that! Oh, It’s vedy good for you! Some people like to make the tea from it too.”
I tried it with and without the green stem. Definitely liked it better without.
how I felt about the stems: they laid unwanted on the rim of my bowl
Bruce admitted he never knew the seeds could be eaten fresh. They usually pre-blanch it at his restaurant before using it as garnish.
So it was the first time for both of us. The taste is very neutral, unless you choose to eat it with the bitter stem. If I had to describe it vaguely, it tasted only slightly nutty. The texture is much more intriguing. Crunchy and kind of milky.
fresh lotus seeds
A good hour passed by as the three of us sat and individually peeled each seed while trying to bat off the mosquitoes hovering at our legs.
time well spent
I thought about the dried stuff we can find back home and exactly how they mass produce such a product. Is it possible that somewhere, workers work diligently, day in, day out, to free these mild seeds from their alien compounds? Do they really see to it that every bitter green stem is removed, and both parts dried for their respective uses? It’s possible.
I also suddenly understood why good mooncakes come at such a premium price. Traditional mooncakes (cakes eaten during the Mid-Autumn festival) are made with lotus seed paste. The process is tedious. It involves cooking the dried seeds until they are tender first. Then they are mashed into a smooth paste and pass through a series of fine cloth to render them completely dry. After that, it still has to be mixed with some sort of sweetener and oil to become the smooth, silky filling. It’s always been considered a luxury product, and rightfully so. Lower quality mooncakes will only have a partial lotus seed filling, using less expensive white beans as a filler.
Since my first encounter with the fresh lotus pods, I began to notice them everywhere when we were in the countryside. People would sell them by the kilo, usually for a song.
For the amount of work required, I didn’t feel like it was worth it, yet I was addicted to its raw-ness. I still prefer them when they’re cooked in various sweet soups. The texture is much more soft and creamy.
Only in Vietnam, and only during our vacation would we have time to sit around and leisurely peel fresh lotus seeds.
avec chantilly 
So awesome!! What’s with you and holes? lol! I’ve never had the seeds fresh and raw, and now I need to try one. Can you use the pod’s spongy flesh for anything?
Lisa, the holes thing is a real fear! typho..something obia. I would look it up for you, but images of holes always pop up and it freaks me out. You should definitely try some if you ever come across it, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to find it, u know? Hmm as far as I’m concerned, I dont think you can use the flesh..or us Vietnamese folks would have already figured it out! haha. Actually, the lotus plant is so cool. I never realized how many edible parts there are. Another Viet favourite seems to be eating the stalk of the flower..its long, lightly spongy and refreshing. Usually eaten raw as part of the “veggie plate”. Also the root is used a lot too, which I’m sure you’re familiar with. Mmm lotus root soup!
New follower here. Love your writing – great post!
Hey, thank you for dropping by 🙂 Love your blog as well, keep up the appetite!