Can You Still Eat Sprouted Water Caltrop, the Cancer-Fighting Plant? Plus Market Prices and Dietary Taboos

Water caltrop is a fairly common aquatic plant in July. Because of its rich nutritional value and its effects such as relieving alcohol toxicity, promoting lactation and diuresis, it is widely eaten, and it is currently sold on the market too. So how much is the market price of water caltrop per jin? Can you still eat it once it has sprouted? What should it not be eaten with?

1. How much is the market price of water caltrop per jin?

The price of water caltrop is about 3-5 yuan per jin, but prices vary greatly depending on the variety, place of origin, market and season. Water caltrop is cultivated most extensively in the Taihu Lake area of the lower Yangtze River and the Pearl River Delta in China. The cultivated ones are larger, about the size of a matchbox, while the wild ones are smaller, some only the size of a fingernail. The colors include green, red and purple, and the horns may be absent, or there may be one, two or four horns. When young and tender it can be eaten raw as a fruit, and when fully ripe the fruit can be eaten cooked or processed into water caltrop flour.

2. Can you still eat it once it has sprouted?

Water caltrop that has sprouted can still be eaten. Water caltrop that sprouts naturally after being stored for a certain period of time can be eaten, but sometimes when storage conditions are poor and the temperature is too high, the flesh has already begun to rot by the time the water caltrop sprouts, and then it cannot be eaten.

3. What should water caltrop not be eaten with?

1. Water caltrop should not be eaten with cold-natured foods. From the perspective of traditional Chinese medicine, water caltrop itself is a cold-natured food and contains a lot of cold energy, which can cause deficiency-cold of the spleen and stomach after being eaten, and cold-natured foods also contain a lot of cold energy. Eating these two kinds of food together will aggravate the cold in the body, so as to avoid making you feel unwell.

2. Water caltrop should not be eaten with pork. This is mainly based on the properties of the food. Water caltrop grows in water for a long time, so it is a cold-natured food, and eating it can make the spleen and stomach deficient and cold, while pork is a greasy food, and eating it together with water caltrop can cause diarrhea.

3. Water caltrop should not be eaten with honey. Besides not being eaten with pork, water caltrop also should not be eaten with honey, because eating water caltrop and honey together may cause some symptoms of indigestion.

4. What are the benefits of eating water caltrop?

1. Replenishing qi and promoting body fluid: Water caltrop has the effects of promoting body fluid and quenching thirst, and strengthening the spleen and replenishing qi. Fresh water caltrop can be eaten raw as a fruit, and can clear heat and promote body fluid, relieve summer heat and cool the body, and remove restlessness and quench thirst. Cooked mature water caltrop can also strengthen the spleen and replenish qi, and eliminate disease and strengthen the body.

2. Clearing heat and detoxifying: Water caltrop has the effect of clearing heat and detoxifying, and can help disinfect and cool the stomach and intestines. Traditional Chinese medicine holds that eating water caltrop can “calm the middle and supplement the five viscera, and keep one from hunger and make the body light”. Elderly people eating water caltrop regularly is very beneficial to the body.

3. Beautifying and slimming: Water caltrop also has a very strong effect in terms of beauty and hair care. Eating water caltrop can moisturize the skin and make the hair black and lustrous, and eating water caltrop can increase the feeling of fullness in the abdomen and makes it hard for fat to accumulate, making it suitable for people with simple obesity to eat during weight loss.

4. Preventing and fighting cancer: Certain components of water caltrop have effects on the degeneration of cancer cells and tissue proliferation, and thus have a remarkable effect in preventing and fighting cancer. Some people use water caltrop fruit as an adjunct treatment for esophageal cancer, breast cancer and uterine cancer.

5. Tonifying the spleen and stomach. Water caltrop can tonify the spleen and stomach, strengthen the thighs and knees, and strengthen strength and replenish qi. Water caltrop flour porridge is beneficial to the stomach and intestines, can relieve internal heat, eliminate disease and strengthen the body, and is beneficial for elderly people to eat regularly. Water caltrop cooked with beef has a very good therapeutic effect on relieving conditions such as neuralgia, headache, joint pain and waist and leg pain.