If you often buy vegetables from the market, you may find that the color of some lotus roots is very white in the market. Recently, some sources revealed that the white lotus roots are bleached by citric acid. It that really true? What is the fact?
Some people think that when you buy lotus root, you should select the white one which seems very clean. But what is strange is that when the lotus roots are transported from planting site, they are not white at all and in fact are very dirty with mud on them. When the dealers get the lotus root, they will soak the lotus root in water and then brush them to white ones. According to the dealers, although the original lotus roots that are not being washed are cheaper, most people would prefer the white clean ones. So they wash all the lotus roots they buy. But if you brush a lotus root without using any cleaning agent, it is easy to break the tegmen of the lotus root and the lotus root can't be clean enough either.
In fact, the reason for allowing the dirty lotus roots to be sold to the dealers is that it is easier to supervise the cleaning process. The superintendent said that they will require all the lotus roots to be washed together with supervisors watching them. While the reporter found that the lotus root washed under the supervision is white yet yellowish. While lotus root in the market is more white. Why? It is reported that using citric acid can easily wash the dirt on the lotus root. Citric acid also has bleaching and fresh-keeping effect on the lotus root. Although the market supervision is strict and the water is provided by the appointed party, the washing process is not strictly supervised all the way. Thus, some loopholes are left for the dealers.