Lemon-Pickled Lotus Rounds

Fresh lotus root is the stuff of Chinese mythology and modern kitchen dreams! Crunchy, sweet, and possessing the beautiful look of a wheel spoked with dewdrops, it is revered by Chinese Buddhists for its purity of flavor and color in spite of birth in a muddy bog. In American Chinatowns you will see it piled in vegetable bins looking like muscular links of thick sausage. A smooth outer skin and a pure white inner flesh mark the freshest roots. The canned stuff is garbage, to be spurned at a