Lake Tai Lily Bulb

Lake Tai Lily Bulb

　　　　Product Name: Lake Tai Lily Bulb

　　Product Origin: Taihu Township, Huzhou, Zhejiang

　　Product Season: Start of Summer

　　Product Characteristics: Thick bulbs, snow-white and creamy, tender flesh, smooth as jade.

　　Product Components: Contains starch, protein, fat, and various trace alkaloids.

　　Product Efficacy: Lily is sweet and slightly cold in nature, primarily used to moisten the lungs and relieve coughs, calm the heart and soothe the nerves. It treats chronic cough due to tuberculosis, coughing up blood-streaked phlegm. Clears lingering heat after febrile diseases, alleviates restlessness and palpitations, calms mental agitation, and reduces swelling from beriberi.

　　Product Introduction: Taihu Township is located on the southern shore of Lake Tai, enjoying a mild climate, abundant rainfall, ample sunlight, and fertile soil. In particular, the local yellow sandy loam offers excellent air and water permeability, making it ideal for lily cultivation. The main variety grown here is Lilium lancifolium, long hailed as the “King of Lilies,” which sells well across China and is also exported abroad. Lilies are perennial herbaceous plants; the edible part is a large underground bulb composed of over 100 fleshy scales, hence the name “lily bulb.” Due to the favorable local climate and soil, the lily bulbs produced here are large, plump, nutrient-rich, and have a fragrant, mildly bitter taste. They are both a premium tonic food—crispy, sweet, and aromatic when cooked, or cooling and refreshing when made into soup, making them a prized summer beverage—and an important traditional Chinese medicinal ingredient. Known as the “Ginseng of Taihu,” Lake Tai Lily Bulb is a treasured food product.

　　Product History: Historical records indicate that as early as the late Ming Dynasty, Huzhou was known as the “Home of Lilies.” According to the Compendium of Materia Medica (Ben Cao Qiu Zhen), “Lily benefits the lungs and heart, serving as an excellent medicine that regulates qi, nourishes the heart, calms the spirit, protects the lungs, and relieves coughs. It can treat lingering post-illness heat, qi and yin deficiency, restlessness, insomnia, and more.” Lily contains trace amounts of colchicine, which has anti-cancer effects on the human body. Our city has been cultivating lilies for five to six hundred years, with Lilium lancifolium as the main variety, historically referred to as the “King of Lilies.” According to the Supplement to Agricultural Books (Bu Nong Shu) compiled by Shen of Wuxing, Zhejiang during the late Ming Dynasty, “The lily root is sweet and fragrant, its flowers are pure and clean; planted near mulberry trees, it does no harm to the mulberry.” Before the War of Resistance, production reached 50,000 dan, and by 1984 had exceeded 70,000 dan, being sold widely in Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Macau. In recent years, canned “Eight-Treasure Lily” has been developed and has gained even greater popularity.