Edible and medicinal uses of lilies

Lily is a kind of flower which integrates ornamental, edible and medicinal use. The following focuses on the edible and medicinal uses of lilies.

Consumption of lilies

Lily has high nutritional value, containing 21.29% protein, 12.43% fat, 11.47% reducing sugar, 1.61% starch, 1.443 mg vitamin B and 21.2mg vitamin C per 100 grams. Lily can be eaten in many ways, including cooking, frying, burning, steaming and cooking, and can make more than 30 kinds of high and middle-grade delicacies, of which the most valuable dishes are lilies, candied lilies, sugar lilies and other dishes. During the Qingming Festival in the Tang Dynasty, how many diners were fascinated by the traditional "Dongshan Lily" snacks in Shanxi, Jiangsu, Shaanxi and other places, and the local dignitaries also served them as high-level gifts to the imperial court. This ballad is still popular in Suzhou lily producing areas: "Lily blossoms in the shape of a trumpet, forming a white fruit, and the petals are wrapped into a lotus body to nourish the body." In the severe winter season, the lilies with thick fruit, elegant shape and rich nutrients are the ones that attract the most attention of buyers in the Huangzhou vegetable market. Hunan lilies are cooked with meat, with good color, smell, flavor and mellow meat. In 1977, the Sanmenxia cannery turned lilies into canned food, which was displayed at the Canton Fair and was in short supply. In lily producing areas, people can also make lilies into "cinnamon pollen lily", "glutinous rice lily porridge" and other snacks; in rural areas of Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces, lilies are often made into soup and lily drinks in summer; dried lilies, lily powder and canned lilies are good gifts for visiting patients and honoring their elders.

Medicinal use of Lily

Lily has high nutritional composition and high medicinal value. Lily was quoted by traditional Chinese medicine as early as 2000 years ago, and it has been described in detail in Materia Medica. According to traditional Chinese medicine, lilies have the functions of moistening the lungs and relieving cough, clearing the heart and calming the mind, tonifying and tonifying qi, and can treat tuberculosis and chronic cough, sputum and blood, vexation, palpitations, trance, edema of beriberi and so on. The commonly used lily medicine recipes include honey fried lily, lily rice porridge, lily ginseng pig lung soup, lily chicken soup, lily braised meat and so on. The commonly used clinical prescriptions are Lily Anemarrhena decoction, Lily Dihuang decoction, Lily slippery, dried Lily Powder, fresh Lily Juice and so on. Although lily is a good tonic and famous food, it is avoided because of its sweet, cold and moist texture, such as cold cough, diarrhea in stool, weakness of spleen and stomach, long stagnation of cold and dampness, and decline of kidney yang.