How long is the appropriate time to soak lotus seeds?

There are two kinds of lotus seeds, fresh lotus seeds and dried lotus seeds. Lotus seeds and polished rice or glutinous rice can be used to cook porridge, which can strengthen the spleen and kidney. Under normal circumstances, lotus seeds need to be processed before cooking porridge. If fresh lotus seeds are chosen, there is no need to soak them in water. However, the texture of dried lotus seeds is very hard, so how long should the lotus seeds be soaked?

First, how long should the lotus seeds be soaked? It is recommended to soak the dried lotus seeds at least 3 hours in advance when cooking porridge. Some people are accustomed to soaking the lotus seeds overnight in advance. However, if the lotus seeds are grown in hot weather, they may easily deteriorate. If you are using fresh lotus seeds taken directly from the lotus pod, there is no need to soak them. Just wash them and cook them in a pot. Of course, if they are dried lotus seeds, the texture of the lotus seeds is relatively hard. You can soak them in clean water in advance, or add some edible alkali to soak them, so that they are easier to break down when making porridge. Of course, you don’t have to soak it, it just needs to be cooked longer.

Second, is it better to use hot water or cold water to soak lotus seeds? Lotus seeds can be soaked in cold water or warm water (the water temperature is generally around 70 to 80 degrees). However, it is not suitable to soak in boiling water for a long time. In addition, if the lotus seeds are not peeled, you can simmer them in boiling water with alkaline for a while before soaking, and then soak them after peeling.

Third, how to make the lotus seeds easier to cook? Soak them in hot alkaline water, with the ratio of one part alkali to ten parts water. After the alkali is dissolved, soak the lotus seeds for about an hour. Knead the lotus seeds with your hands until the skin falls off, then soak them in hot water. The lotus seed meat will swell and will become mushy when cooked. Put the lotus seeds in the freezer for a day, then take them out and cook them, they will easily become mushy. You don’t need a pressure cooker to cook lotus seeds. Simply boil them for 5 minutes, turn off the heat and simmer on the stove. Wait until the pot cools down a little, then turn the heat back on and boil. Repeat this three times.

Is it necessary to remove the core of lotus seeds when making porridge? The core of lotus seeds tastes bitter, so if the core of lotus seeds is not removed, the effect of clearing away heat and reducing fire will be better. However, when using lotus seeds to cook soup or porridge, the soup will taste bitter if the core is not removed. Moreover, the core of lotus seeds is cold in nature. People with weak constitution, cold stomach and fear of cold should not eat lotus seeds with the core. Eating too much lotus seed heart can also cause abdominal pain, diarrhea and other uncomfortable symptoms. In short, from a medical point of view, lotus seeds with lotus seeds have one more effect than those with hollow lotus seeds, and that is the effect of lotus seeds: clearing the heart and removing heat. However, lotus seeds have a bitter taste. So, from the perspective of taste, it has a bitter taste, which is not acceptable to most people, so it tastes better with the core removed than without. When middle-aged and elderly people buy it, they mostly choose not to remove the core because of the multiple medicinal properties. But when middle-aged and young people buy it, they mostly remove the core because of the multiple taste properties.