LOTUS SEEDS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 264, 6 November 1937, Page 13

LOTUS SEEDS.

MRS. WONG HAS THEM. PRESERVED IN SUGAR. MEALY AND RATHER SWEET. In a basement off Soho Square is Mrs. Wong, for short, surrounded by glass lanterns, raffia slippers and pink tea. If you ask her what her trade is, she says, "Lotus seed importer." There is nothing exotic about Mrs. Wong. She is a plump little Chinese woman in a woolly jumper and a cotton skirt. Her black glossy hair is permed, and her make-up is sun tan rather than magnolia blossom. She smokes—Virginian tobacco —drinks coffee and loves Chelsea tea buns. There is a demand for lotus seeds and Mrs. Wong can supply a neat twolayered box, preserved in sugar, wrapped in an authentic Chinese newspaper, for six shillings and sixpence, writes Hilde Marchant in the "Daily Express." The Chinese newspaper is important. Her customers go away fascinated by the crablike walk of the print, and think they are nice for Christmas presents. But Mrs. Wong has a serious trade. Lotus seeds are important to the Chinese living in England, and whenever there is a party they need half a dozen boxes. As small as butter beans, they are wrapped separately in a sugared paper. The box has on the lid a coy Chinese maiden with her silky black head in the clouds offering a plate of flowers. I found them dull fruit—a little mealy and rather sweet. But there was enough atmosphere, what with the sweet-smelling herbs, the Chinese baby playing with a Persian kitten, the great pot crab with chrysanthemums, and the dried shark fin in bottles, to make up for a lot in flavour.