WUHAN, Aug. 18 (Xinhua) — Under a blazing sun and sweltering heat, appetites often fade. Yet across the pond-dotted, river-laced landscape of Hubei, the waters hold the locals' own cooling remedy for reviving the palate. Lotus seeds can be eaten raw, lotus shoots make fine dishes, gorgon fruit tunes a savory note, and even lotus flowers can be deep-fried. As the saying goes, every part of the lotus is a treasure. This essence from the lakes and marshes of the Chu region is the most refreshing comfort a summer tongue can find.
To taste fresh lotus root, one must first wade into the pond. In Guihua Village, Cenhe Town, Shashi District, Jingzhou City, Hubei, batch after batch of tender lotus roots is dug from the mud from five or six in the morning until ten o'clock, then rushed to the agricultural wholesale market. Beneath the dark silt, the roots emerge white and plump, evenly proportioned, still glistening with moisture — freshness visible at a glance. Ran Shaoqing, 28, says he grew up watching his parents make a living growing lotus roots. This 100-plus-mu pond yields over a thousand jin of lotus root a day, selling for two to three thousand yuan.
Hubei's people know how to live by the water, and they know even better how to turn the fresh flavors of the water into a full table of dishes. Honghu native Shao Min runs a local-style restaurant in Shashi District, where an elegant courtyard features arched bridges, bamboo pavilions and flowing water. Coming here for a lotus root feast is a beloved summer ritual for many locals.
Stir-fried lotus root slices, cold-tossed lotus shoots, iced lotus seeds, pork-rib lotus-root soup — the dishes fill the table, and the coolness of the lotus pond seems to waft over it, dispelling the summer heat at the mere sight. 'Three Treasures of the Lotus Pond' is a seasonal signature dish, combining water caltrop, lotus seeds and lotus root in a single stir-fry, so that the starchiness of the caltrop, the softness of the seeds and the crispness of the root blend and set each other off. The chef says the cooking pursues the utmost simplicity — just a pinch of salt and chicken essence for accent — to draw out the lotus root's natural sweetness and the seeds' faint-bitter, sweet-returning finish, revealing the water-region people's ingenuity in following the seasons.
Looking beyond a single lotus feast toward the entire waterway, Honghu writes an even bigger 'lotus chapter.' Honghu is a county-level city under Jingzhou's administration. In 2025 its lotus-root planting area reached 225,000 mu, and the 'Honghu Lotus Root' comprehensive output value topped 12 billion yuan. Zhang Xianzhong, an agronomist at the Honghu Lotus Root Development Center, says lotus can be divided by use into root-lotus, seed-lotus, shoot-lotus and flower-lotus, and root-lotus further splits into starchy and crisp types. Locals have bred more than ten premium lotus-root varieties.
Lotus shoots and lotus roots are in fact the same organ — a shoot, once fully swollen, becomes a root. Lotus root is generally planted around Qingming and the first tender shoots are harvested in May and June. Lotus shoots are high in water, low in calories, crisp and sweet — a fine appetizing dish on Jingzhou's summer table. By July and August, the shoots left in the pond gradually swell and mature into the familiar lotus root.
In this 'land of lotus root,' the locals have devised ever-new ways to eat a single lotus plant. The culinary reach goes far beyond the dining table — pickled lotus shoots, lotus soup, wild lotus juice, wild lotus-seed juice, pure lotus-root powder, lotus-powder noodles — nearly 50 processed product categories, with annual processing output approaching 4 billion yuan. As night falls, these aquatic treasures slip into the smoke and fire of the street markets. In the past year, Jingzhou's Wuyi Road and Bibo Road — two veteran night-market streets — have quietly risen to fame both online and offline. After dark, diners arrive waving palm-leaf fans, bringing friends along, following the scent of lotus.
According to reports, Jingzhou has focused on supporting the counties and districts along the Honghu basin to develop the lotus industry, driving innovation in quality, track, branding and platforms, and tangibly boosting farmers' incomes. What a pond of clear water nurtures is not only the season's freshness, but also a path to prosperity for the farming households of the Chu region.
