Green travel

The Lotus flower finds itself growing up in harsh and muck water. Still it has a good smell, and you cannot find any mud on stems or flowers.  It provide hope and inspiration for anyone, who lives in a poor and difficult situation, as he or she can still raise up, become successful and contribute for society instead being limited by their social heritage.  

If you look at what scientists say about this healthy plant, then it is clear that it brings many benefits for humans. Lotus are able to reduce cholesterol, it help to control sugar level in blood, and reduce fat level in blood. Furthermore, it can reduce blood pressure, release tension, prevent heart disease, anti-infection, strengthen immune system and it is good for skin, too. Naturally it raise skepticism about how much effect you can get out of it, but at least it is a flower, and it is green, so it is healthy to eat. In Vietnam, they use lotus for many purposes. They consume the root, and actually makes use of all part of the plant. They use the lotus root for a vegetarian soup, and they slow cook it with meat to make a stew or they pickle it with vinegar and sugar.

The purple part from the root is the stem. Lotus stems’ are used in many dishes like pork lotus salad, the always-popular hotpot, and pickle. It contains fibers to add to the healthiness. The taste is quite neutral. It can certainly be joint with other ingredients.

The leaves are large and used as an eco-friendly wrap for foods. Before the plastic bags or paper was invented, the leaves were used in Vietnam. Now we wish to get rid of plastic in the environment, it is time to come back to the much more environment-friendly of using Lotus leaves for wrapping. It has the advantage of a good smell that foods can absorb. In Vietnam, they use lotus leaves for wrapping sticky rice – it is very popular and at the same time very cheap breakfast for students and workers who need a healthy breakfast to stay fresh and durable.  

Hue in Vietnam is a kind of vegetarian capital of the country and they use lotus seeds,flower and leaves a lot in their food.

The lotus is very popular in Vietnam. It is produced by adding tea inside the lotus flowers for some nights, just to have enough time to the aroma. You can see tea producers leave very early in the morning and boat in a lotus pond where they put tea inside the flowers.  After a few nights they can harvest the lotus tea. Lotus tea is a strong part of the Vietnamese tea culture, and is associated with many legends and is spoken about in deep respect. It is said that under a porch is the best place to enjoy the traditional lotus tea. To makes it even better experience, then the best suited place would be to sit out to a lotus pond, so you can smell lotus aroma in the wind while sipping the tea.

Inside the lotus seed, there is a green part. It has a bitter taste to it, but it is believed to have a string effect for those who cannot sleep or has had tension for long time.