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• Links - to information on Bamboo

Bamboo is the fastest growing plant on Earth. It can grow well over three feet per day and has been clocked at over three feet per hour in short spurts. Most are much smaller but some giant timber bamboo can grow to 100 feet tall.

Bamboo stems are hard flexible and durable, so they have been made into tools and utensils and used as building materials since long before the dawn of history. Their utility has been both enhanced and limited by their hollow jointed nature and thin walls, but modern processes and bonding methods have recently made bamboo practical for durable flooring, cutting boards and other non-traditional uses.

Bamboo propagates aggressively by sending out underground runners which send up shoots that develop into mature grass stems. These tender young shoots are the only part of the bamboo plant that can be made edible by man.

Pandas and golden lemurs have evolved ways to process cyanide and can ingest enough bamboo to kill several men each day, but even young shoots are too toxic for human consumption. Shoots must first have the fibrous leafy exterior stripped off and must then be cooked well in boiling water, uncovered to let the bitter cyanide escape.

Of the hundreds of varieties of bamboo, only a few are used for food and fewer are available commercially. The obvious difference is size, but there are other differences. Once peeled and detoxified shoots may be sold fresh in bags or in sterile vacuum pack bags for longer keeping, or canned whole, sliced or shredded. Bamboo may also be dried, dried and salted, pickled, or frozen.

Bamboo Shoots
With no other descriptor, bamboo shoots tend to be slightly yellow in color and 2 to 3 inches in diameter, similar to the ones in the center and right of the photo. If canned they will usually be sliced in some fashion, generally into either lengthwise slices or small slivers.

Canned are still the most commonly available but markets serving Asian communities now stock various kinds in sterile vacuum bags. The vacuum bags have the advantage that you can see exactly what you're getting, whole shoots can be bagged and the flavor is fresher than canned.

Fresh Bamboo Shoots
Fresh unprocessed bamboo shoots are now often available in Southern California, at least during the spring and summer growing seasons. While more trouble to prepare, the flavor of fresh bamboo is superior to vacuum bagged and a lot superior to canned. The larger photo specimen (top) was 8-1/2 inches long, 3 inches diameter (average, it was oval) and weighed 1 pound 5 ounces. Yield was 12 ounces or 57%, while the smaller yielded 55%. The cost in Los Angeles in 2008 is around $2.99/pound.

To prepare, strip the outer leaves as has been done to the sample at bottom right in the photo. Then bring to a boil in plenty of water and boil for about 20 minutes uncovered so the cyanide can escape easily. No, it isn't going to gas you to death if you're just boiling a few. I usually slice them in half lengthwise so they aren't as thick and any open chambers in the stem will be properly exposed to boiling water.

Fresh Prepared Bamboo Shoots
These are now available in many markets serving East Asian populations, sold bulk out of water filled trays or loosely bagged. Larger stores may have them whole, sliced and slivered. They have only been peeled and boiled long enough to detoxify them - basically the same as if you prepared your own fresh bamboo shoots. Flavor is very good but they are perishable - refrigerate and use within a few days of purchase.

Giant Bamboo Shoots
These are from the giant timber bamboo, are a very white color and very large in size. Otherwise they're pretty much like other bamboo shoots. These are, as you might expect, more expensive than the other types and sizes. They are generally sold in sterile vacuum bags.

Green Bamboo Shoots
These shoots are white, but from a variety of bamboo called "Green Bamboo". The shoots, about 2 inches in diameter, I find them sweeter and less fibrous than standard bamboo shoots. These are generally available packed in sterile vacuum bags.

Salted Dried Bamboo
This traditional packaging made of a bamboo splint basket lined with dried bamboo leaves actually contained a vacuum pack bag of the product. Most exporters dispense with the traditional packing and just ship them in standard modern vacuum packages. This product is made from Slim Bamboo Shoots dried and preserved with salt. They are soaked in a couple changes of water before use.

Slim Bamboo Shoots
These shoots may be in vacuum packs or canned. They are from a relatively small variety of bamboo. The shoots are slightly more fibrous than the larger shoots and have a more distinct and slightly bitter flavor.

Winter Bamboo
These may be of various sizes, but the ones most often sold specifically as "winter bamboo" tend to be larger and fetch a premium price. The term refers to the growing season, of which bamboo has two, spring and winter. Winter bamboo is preferred for tenderness. It is may be either canned or vacuum packed, with vacuum packs to be preferred.

Do not attempt to eat bamboo shoots until they have been peeled of their leafy exterior and boiled for sufficient time to drive off their toxic cyanide content. Unlikely to kill you but they'd probably make you plenty sick.