How to Harvest Lotus Root

Like the potato, a lotus plant grows from tubers. It is closely related to water lilies, but the root system of the water lily is a rhizome, which is a horizontal underground stem, rather than a tuber. While water lilies seem to float on the surface of a pond, the lotus plant flowers above the water -- in some cases, as much as 7 feet above a pond surface. The lotus has been valued in China for millennia as a beautiful flower, food source and medicine. The tubers from which the lotus grows resemble a banana in their smoothness, but can be as oddly shaped as a sweet potato.

Things You'll Need

• Spade
• Wading boots
• Shoulder-held collection sack

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Instructions

1. • 1

     Put on wading boots and sling the collection sack over your shoulder. Bring the spade with you as you wade into the visible lotus bed in your pond.

   • 2

     Reach down through the water to find the roots of the lotus plants around you. Some parts of the root will be smooth and narrow, while others will be swollen. The swollen parts are the edible tubers.

   • 3

     Pull the tubers out and put them in your sack. Use the spade to cleanly separate the tubers from the rest of the root if you can't pull them up easily.

   • 4

     Wash and dry the tubers before you prepare them to eat or to replant.