What kind of plant is water chestnut?

Water chestnut is more common in the south, but it may be less in the north. Many southerners will buy some water chestnuts to taste fresh in the current season, but northerners may not know what this is, so what kind of plant is water chestnut?

What is a water chestnut?

Water chestnut is a kind of rhombic family, rhombus genus. Also known as waist Ling, Water Chestnut, Ling Shi, taste sweet, cool, non-toxic, is the fruit of annual herbaceous aquatic plant Ling, water chestnut skin crisp meat, cooking after peeling to eat, can also boil porridge. Water chestnut is rich in protein, unsaturated fatty acids and a variety of vitamins and trace elements. It has the effect of diuresis, relieving thirst and detoxifying alcohol.

Water chestnut grows in the lake and matures around August every year. The rattan has green leaves, and the leaves are in the shape of a diamond, so the fruit is called water chestnut. The stem is purplish red with bright yellow flowers.

Ling is an annual herbaceous aquatic plant, also known as "peanut in the water", the fruit "water chestnut" is a nut, perpendicular to the dense leaves in the water, the whole plant must be picked up upside down before it can be seen. After autumn, the fruit hardens, and if the wild water chestnut is not picked, it will gradually fall off from the stem and sink to the bottom of the water, and sprout in the coming year.

There are many kinds of water chestnut, the artificially cultivated ones can be the size of matchboxes, the wild ones are small, and the small ones are only as large as fingernails. There are cyan, red and purple, crisp skin and meat, delicious, can be regarded as a good fruit can also be used as food. It is generally eaten after cooking, or chopped into fine particles after drying, or boiled porridge can also be eaten.

2. Types of water chestnut

1. Wonton Ling, also known as Nanhu Ling, is a famous product in Jiaxing, Zhejiang Province. Late-maturing varieties were sown in Qingming Festival and harvested from the Autumn Equinox to Frosts Descent. High quality and high yield, sweet and waxy, with a yield of 1000 to 1200 jin per mu. The pericarp is green and white, with 40 kilograms per jin, the shoulder angle is warped, the waist angle is bent down, the rhombus is sunken, the rhombus is thick and thin, and the ratio of fruit weight to meat weight is about 1.5. 1.

2. Xiaobai Ling, produced in Wujiang, Jiangsu, Suzhou and other places. The mid-and late-maturing varieties were sown in Qingming Festival and harvested from White Dew to Frosts Descent with a yield of 600 to 1200 jin per mu. The meat is hard, contains more starch, is suitable for cooked food, and the fruit shape is small, 60 to 70 per jin. The skin is green and white, the shoulder angle is slightly extended upward, the waist angle is slender and bent down, the abdomen is slightly raised, and the ratio of fruit weight to flesh weight is about 1.4 per cent. The diamond plate is small, the stem is tough, the growth potential is strong, the resistance to wind and waves is strong, and the growth adaptability is wide, so it is suitable to be cultivated in deep water.

3. Daqingling, produced in Wujiang, Wuxian and Yixing, Jiangsu Province. For medium-mature seeds, the sowing and ripening period is the same as that of Xiaobai Ling, with a yield of 1000 to 1200 jin per mu. Medium quality, large fruit shape, 20 to 25 per jin. The skin is green and white, the shoulder is high, the shoulder angle is flat and thick, and the waist angle is also thick. Bend down slightly. The pericarp is thick and the ratio of fruit weight to flesh weight is about 2:1.

4. Shuihongling, produced in Suzhou, Jiangsu, Hangzhou, Zhejiang and Jiaxing. Precocious seeds, sowing during the Qingming Festival, the Beginning of Autumn began to harvest nenling, the End of Heat and Frosts Descent harvested Laoling, yielding 800kg to 1000jin per mu. Diamond meat has more water content, less starch, sweet taste, and is suitable for raw food. Petiole, vein and pericarp are all water red. The fruit shape is large, 25 kilograms per jin, shoulder angle slender and flat extension, waist angle medium length, slightly downward oblique extension, the ratio of fruit weight to meat weight is about 1.5 per kilogram. Not resistant to deep water, not resistant to wind and waves.

5. Shao Boling, from Lixiahe area of Jiangsu Province. The early and middle mature varieties were harvested from the End of Heat to Cold Dew, and the yield was medium, with a yield of 500kg / mu, 40kg / jin, green and white skin, large shoulder angle, sharp waist angle, thin skin, and the ratio of fruit weight to meat weight was about 1.515.

6. Shajiao Ling, produced in Wujiang and Wuxian, Jiangsu Province. Medium-ripe seeds were sown by Qingming Festival and Grain Rain, and harvested by the Beginning of Autumn and the End of Heat. The yield is 400 to 600 jin per mu. The shape of the fruit is small, the shoulder angle is sharp and flat, the waist angle is oblique to the side of the fruit, and the skin is green, white and thick. Diamond meat is hard, rich in starch, suitable for cooked food. Tough roots, small dense leaves, resistant to wind and waves, resistant to deep water and thin ground.

Water chestnut means "angular" and "sharp", and the long ones have their own characteristics. When eating, you must be careful, otherwise you may get scratched.