I don't know when it began, some konjac pieces like tofu began to appear on the market, whether it is fried or eaten in hot pot, it is a rare food.
And with the addition of some food companies, products such as konjac shuang have become popular in the market and have become popular foods on the market in recent years.
Konjac is an ancient organism that is widely distributed in China, but due to its unique appearance, it has not become a major crop for a long time, nor has it become a popular food.
Konjac is the same as potatoes and sweet potatoes, the main edible part is its stem, the difference is that the stem of konjac is much larger, and the slightly larger one is about the same as the waist circumference of an adult.
Although konjac also eats rhizomes, its method of eating is very different from that of potatoes and sweet potatoes, and both potatoes and sweet potatoes can be eaten directly.
But konjac is not, its production process is a bit similar to tofu, so konjac blocks are also known as konjac tofu, which first grinds the konjac rhizome into a pulp, and then adds alkaline substances to make it solidify, becoming a familiar look.
Konjac belongs to the Araceae family, belongs to perennial herbaceous plants, the main reason why it will produce huge rhizomes is to accumulate nutrients and prepare for flowering, but most of the time, konjac is not waiting for its flowering, after it has accumulated enough nutrients, before it blooms, it is also the time of konjac harvest.
If according to most people's understanding, konjac must be a vegetarian dish because it contains a lot of starch and it is a plant, but there are different opinions in nature, where konjac may be an authentic meat dish.
Konjac, like most plants, relies mainly on pollen for fertilization, and then bears fruit for the next generation to reproduce.
The flowers are usually very bright in color and have a strong fragrance, which attracts small insects such as bees and butterflies to achieve the effect of fertilization.
But konjac flowers do the opposite, the color of the flowers not only looks vulgar, but also exudes a smell of rotten flesh, which may be the reason why konjac has been unpopular for a long time!
Many people may find it strange that the smell of carrion does not drive away bees and other small animals. So how is it pollinated?
This brings us to another small insect, which is attracted to the smell of carrion, yes, it is a fly.
One of the main reasons why flies feel annoying is that they have a love for some rancid foods, which are engraved in their genes, and rotten food means that they are not clean and are easy to be contaminated with microorganisms such as bacteria and viruses.
Flies like these spoiled foods, on the one hand, in addition to their food, and another reason, that is, to use these spoiled foods for the reproduction of offspring.
We all know that there are generally two forms of flies in their lives, and when they are young, they exist in the form of reptiles, that is, maggots that everyone is familiar with, and when they grow to a certain extent, they also break out of the cocoon like a cocoon and become a familiar fly.
Since most flies are mainly scavengers when they are larvae, when flies reproduce, they choose to lay eggs on putrid food and then hatch.
So what do these have to do with konjac?
That is, when konjac blooms, it will make flies think that it is rotten meat, that is, a meat dish.
It stands to reason that flies live on carrion, and after hundreds of millions of years of evolution, the perception of carrion is a memory that is burned in the genes, and for the sake of future generations, it will definitely spend a lot of energy when looking for a suitable place to lay eggs, without being sloppy, but konjac flowers have the ability to make flies think that it is a meat dish.
First of all, the petals of konjac not only have a fleshy color but also a fleshy texture when viewed from a distance, just like a large piece of meat.
If it is just a visual deception, the flies will not deceive, at this time the konjac flower will resort to another means, that is, to release the smell of carrion outward, how similar is this smell to carrion?
Some scientists have done experiments to compare, the general meat after decay emits unpleasant gases, mainly because the protein in the meat is degraded with the help of dimethyl disulfide and dimethyl trisulfide, and it is the existence of the two that will produce an unpleasant smell.
When konjac blooms, it also releases these two smells to the outside world, chemically speaking, it belongs to the same substance.
One has the same smell of carrion, and has a fleshy color and similar texture, in the eyes of flies, what kind of plant is this, this is an authentic "meat dish".
It is precisely by virtue of this that flies are attracted to lay eggs, and the closer they are to the core, the stronger the smell of carrion, which attracts flies to come in and achieve the purpose of pollination.
But when the careless fly thinks that it has found a large piece of "meat dish" and finishes laying eggs, it flies away satisfied, and when its offspring break out of the shell, it is dumbfounded, what kind of carrion is this! If you can't chew it, you can't bite it, and in the end, its fate can be imagined.