Author
Bowtie Team
Updated on
2025-08-21
Disclaimer: This article is translated with the assistance of AI.
Bowtie invites a Chinese medicine expert to break down burdock’s benefits, precautions, suitable users, and share recipe ideas.
What Are Lotus Seeds? A Quick Guide
Lotus seeds are the dried, mature seeds from the lotus plant, a member of the water lily family. They’re mainly produced in regions like Hunan, Hubei, Fujian, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Jiangxi. With a neutral nature, lotus seeds taste sweet and astringent, offering benefits like tonifying the spleen to stop diarrhea, benefiting the kidneys to consolidate essence, and nourishing the heart to calm the mind. The lotus seed core is bitter and helps clear heart fire. They’re commonly used for chronic diarrhea due to spleen deficiency, seminal emission, vaginal discharge, palpitations, and insomnia.
Benefits of Lotus Seeds
Nourish the Heart and Calm the Mind: Lotus seeds nourish the heart and benefit the kidneys, harmonizing the heart and kidneys. They’re often used for insomnia caused by disharmony between heart and kidneys. Containing alkaloids, they help boost GABA activity in the brain, while tryptophan provides a calming effect on the nervous system, improving sleep issues.
Benefit Kidneys and Consolidate Essence: The kidneys govern bones, and lotus seeds are rich in minerals like calcium, potassium, and phosphorus, which work together to keep bones strong. They’re also commonly used for symptoms like seminal emission and enuresis.
Tonify the Spleen and Astringe: Lotus seeds help improve chronic diarrhea, indigestion, and other symptoms. They’re also used for excessive vaginal discharge due to spleen deficiency.
Protect Blood Vessels: The phenolic compounds in lotus seeds can help lower blood lipids, while alkaloids reduce blood pressure, effectively protecting blood vessels.
Who Should Eat Lotus Seeds?
They’re suitable for people with excessive heart fire, weak constitution, palpitations, insomnia with vivid dreams, excessive vaginal discharge, seminal emission, spleen qi deficiency, or chronic diarrhea.
Precautions for Eating Lotus Seeds
Avoid if you’re allergic to lotus seeds, have a cold constitution, or are constipated.
Lotus Seed Recipes
Mistletoe Lotus Seed Eggs (Serves 3)
【Ingredients】60g mistletoe, 15g lotus seeds, 10g longan, 3 eggs, 5 pitted red dates, brown sugar to taste
【Method】Boil eggs, peel, and set aside. Pit the red dates, remove cores from lotus seeds, and wash the mistletoe. Add mistletoe, lotus seeds, longan, and red dates to a pot with 500-800ml water. Bring to a boil, then simmer for 30 minutes. Add brown sugar and eggs, cook for 15 minutes, turn off heat, and let steep for 10 minutes. Serve at a comfortable temperature.
【Benefits】Tonifies liver and kidneys, dispels wind-dampness, calms the mind, and stabilizes pregnancy
Astragalus Yam Lotus Seed Congee
【Ingredients】30g astragalus, 50g Chinese yam, 15g cored lotus seeds, 50g white rice
【Method】Wash and soak all ingredients for 30 minutes. Add water and cook together into congee. Serve at a comfortable temperature.
【Benefits】Strengthens spleen and nourishes stomach, tonifies lungs and spleen
Four Spirits Soup
【Ingredients】20g poria, 20g gorgon fruit, 40g lotus seeds, 20g Chinese yam, 40g coix seeds, glutinous rice balls
【Seasoning】Rock sugar, osmanthus wine to taste
【Method】Soak coix seeds, gorgon fruit, and lotus seeds for about 30 minutes. Add poria, gorgon fruit, Chinese yam, coix seeds, lotus seeds, and lean meat to a pot with 1L water and osmanthus wine. Stew for 1.5 hours, add glutinous rice balls and cook until done. Finally, add rock sugar to taste. Serve at a comfortable temperature.
【Benefits】Tonifies spleen and nourishes stomach, benefits kidneys and astringes, generates fluids and tonifies lungs
Frequently Asked Questions
Can pregnant women eat lotus seeds?
Yes. Pregnant women with yin deficiency, internal heat, and constipation should reduce their intake.
How to cook lotus seeds to make them soft and fluffy?
When handling dried lotus seeds, soak them in hot water until they absorb the water, expand, and soften. This helps remove bitterness and makes them easier to cook until tender. For fresh lotus seeds, rinse them with water first, remove the core, then place them in boiling water. After it boils again, reduce to low heat and cook for 20 minutes. Turn off the heat, cover, and let them steam for about 10 minutes to achieve a soft and fluffy texture.
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