Ah Lian

A student gave me this last week. It was a lotus pod. Hard as it looks, the pod is actually very soft, and it feels almost like a sponge! I was wondering what to do with it when she told me "Eat it!" Har? You mean this can be eaten? Ok, so how do I go about eating this?

My student pried the pod open and out spilled the seeds as seen in the foreground. Amazing! By the way, the one in the background is still intact. The number of black dots u can see on the lotus pod would be the number of seeds it contains. So can I eat them now? Not yet, there is still a layer of skin to be removed before the real lotus seed appears! There is actually not much taste to it, somewhat bland. But I would liken it to the melon seed, except it is much bigger.

I must have behaved like a suaku who had never eaten a lotus seed before.