Why are bamboo shoots the cutest plants?

Am I cute? | Haragayato / Wikipedia

Bamboo shoots are an ancient name for bamboo shoots, meaning newly sprouted bamboo. "Er Ya·Shi Cao" says: " Shoots are bamboo shoots ." The young plants of more than 500 species of plants in the entire bamboo subfamily can be called shoots, which are formed by the buds of underground stems emerging upwards, and more than 200 species are edible. Most bamboos grow in warmer regions , including most parts of Asia, sub-Saharan Africa, South America, and a small part of North America. They were not introduced to Europe until the early 19th century, so ancient Europeans had no bamboo shoots to eat.

The most cultivated and edible bamboo today is Phyllostachys edulis , whose specific epithet edulis means "edible". Phyllostachys edulis is also known as " Meng Zong Bamboo ", which comes from the anecdote of Meng Zong in "Twenty-Four Filial Exemplars" that "crying to bamboo makes bamboo shoots grow". The bamboo shoot season is April, and Meng Zong may have encountered a late spring cold snap.

Bamboo | Lazaregagnidze / Wikimedia Commons

Neighbor's bamboo

Bamboo is widely used in construction. Take a look at your neighbor's fence. Does the bamboo have a longitudinal groove on the side of each section? It is most likely bamboo. This groove is very useful. When we were fighting in groups when we were young, it provided friction for gripping. In order to get a good bamboo pole, we would get up at 4:30 in the morning and dismantle other people's fences in the dark.

The underground stems of moso bamboo are commonly known as bamboo whips . They are very contagious . There is a saying that "the east family plants bamboo, the west family manages the land". It is said that in ancient times, if you wanted to steal bamboo shoots from your neighbor's house, you just had to bury a dead cat under your own wall, and the bamboo whips would come and sprout by themselves (cat: What are you doing?!). Therefore, it is listed as an invasive plant in some countries. For example, in Connecticut, if your own bamboo is not protected and spreads to other people's homes, you will have to pay a fine of $100 per day until you install protection, and you will also have to pay extra fees to clean up the bamboo.

Bamboo's spreading underground stems (bamboo rhizomes) with new lateral shoots (bamboo shoots) growing continuously | XIIIfromTOKYO / Wikimedia Commons

Bamboos of Wu Family

Chinese people have been eating bamboo shoots for a long time, but they are rare in the north of the Yellow River , and fresh bamboo shoots are hard to come by . For example, "add beans to the fruit, bamboo shoots and fish sauce" is recorded in "Zhou Li". "Bamboo shoots" are pickled bamboo shoots . In "Zhu Pu" written by Dai Kai in the Jin Dynasty, it is said: "Although the quality is winter green, its nature is very sensitive to cold. It grows fresh in the Nine Rivers and is abundant in the Five Ridges." This means that bamboo does not grow well in the Yellow River Basin , but is more abundant in South China.

There is a joke in "Xiao Lin" that mocks northerners. A Wu person invited a Han person to dinner. The Han person did not know bamboo shoots. The Wu person told him that they were bamboos. The Han person went home and cooked his own bed mat, and said that the Wu person had cheated him. In the Song Dynasty, Huang Tingjian wrote in "Ten Rhymes of Eating Bamboo Shoots" that bamboo shoots in the capital were very expensive, "a bunch was worth a thousand gold coins, but they turned around and refused to sell it." Then in the south, "the kitchen was full of bamboo shoots, as if paying off a bamboo shoot debt."

The most familiar form of bamboo to many people | Christian Kadluba / Wikipedia

Bamboo shoots contain a lot of free amino acids , so they taste very fresh, comparable to meat. Many literati and foodies have written poems praising them. Yang Wanli of the Song Dynasty described eating bamboo shoots as "the rustling sound of ice and snow around teeth. Eat bamboo shoots instead of meat at every meal." Li Yu of the Qing Dynasty also said that bamboo shoots " are not comparable to fat sheep and tender pigs ."

Chef's Bamboo Shoots

Of course, bamboo shoots are only delicious when they are cooked. If the unexcavated winter bamboo shoots are not heated for a long time, they will be very astringent and easy to numb the mouth. You can boil them in light salt water for a while, or soak them in rice wine to remove the astringency . When cooking, they need to be heated for a long time. If fresh winter bamboo shoots are left for too long and exposed to the air for a long time, the accumulation of lignin and cellulose will be significantly accelerated, and they will become difficult to chew.

Bamboo shoots by Japanese artist Shibata Koshin | Wikimedia Commons

The Song Dynasty book "Shun Pu" written by Zan Ning records the collection and cooking methods of bamboo shoots:

"The method of picking bamboo shoots is to avoid exposure to the sun. After sunrise, dig deep into the soil to get them. Break the roots in half and put them in a dense bamboo container. Cover them with oil and do not expose them to the wind. When the wind blows, they will become hard. Wipe the soil with a towel. They should not be exposed to water. Soak them in boiling water with the shells on. Cook them for a long time ." "If the bamboo shoots are cooked, they will be cooked in a week. If they are raw, boil them again in water for another week."

Another cooking method in "Shoot Recipe" is to stew it in ash. No matter whether it is boiled in water or stewed over fire, the whole bamboo shoots with shells are used. This may be to prevent the bamboo shoots from contacting with air to the greatest extent possible and slow down the hardening time. It just takes a little longer to cook.

Pickled Pork Duxian | Tuchong Creative

Spring bamboo shoots are less astringent than winter bamboo shoots and are suitable for braised or stir-fried. Peeled spring bamboo shoots are white and tender, and are often used to describe women's fingers. In the erotic poem "Xijiang Yue" written by Hui Hong of the Song Dynasty, there is a sentence "Ten fingers are tender like spring bamboo shoots, slender, soft and red". Braised spring bamboo shoots are a famous Zhejiang dish. As a person who is one-quarter Zhejiang, although I have never eaten it, I am very eager to try it. In comparison, I prefer the combination of bamboo shoots and bacon, such as pickled pork with preserved vegetables or stir-fried bamboo shoots with bacon.

Pickled bamboo shoots are a good way to store them. Pickled and then baked bamboo shoots can not only be eaten directly as snacks, but can also be added to soups or dishes to enhance the flavor. For example, the famous Tianmu dried bamboo shoots are also called "flat tips". Braised pork with dried bamboo shoots is delicious. Yuan Mei of the Qing Dynasty recorded "bamboo shoots" in his foodie notes "Suiyuan Food List", which is made in this way.

Sun-dried bamboo shoots | Tuchong Creative

"Take fresh bamboo shoots, add salt and cook them, then put them in a basket and bake them. You must watch them day and night. If the fire is not strong enough, they will become wet. If you use clear sauce, the color will be slightly black. Both spring and winter bamboo shoots can be used for this."

More personalized eating methods

Bamboo shoots are as popular in Southeast and South Asian countries as they are in China, but the flavors are all tropical. For example, India's khorisa. Nepal's alu tama, marinated in curry and oil, eaten with potatoes and rice. Indonesian cuisine is to cut bamboo shoots into slices and then cook them with thick coconut milk and curry, called gulai rebung, also known as curry coconut milk mixed vegetables . Vietnam's Bún măng vịt ( old duck bamboo shoot noodles ) seems to suit my taste best, with a Suzhou noodle feel.

Bamboo shoot curry | pelican / Flickr

Bamboo tube rice is another way to eat bamboo shoots after they grow up. Many people like to eat it when they go to Hainan, Yunnan and other places. However, I think it is just a container and cannot add much to the rice. There are many types of bamboo in the south, and the ones used are not necessarily moso bamboo.

Another delicacy provided by grown-up bamboo is a bit perverted. It is the bamboo borer (Omphisa fuscidentalis) of the family Pyralidae, commonly known as bamboo worm . Its larvae feed on the bamboo pith. It contains 26% protein and 51% fat. It is a common fried delicacy in Yunnan and Southeast Asia (I don’t dare to eat it anyway...).

Bamboo Insect | Takoradee/Wikimedia Commons

Finally, I would like to present a dish that everyone often ate when they were young.

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Stir-fried bamboo shoots with pork_(:3」∠❀)_

Image | Pixabay

Author: Frost Moth

Cover image source: XIIIfromTOKYO / Wikimedia Commons

This article comes from the Species Calendar, welcome to forward

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