Do you have straddle bamboos in your garden and do you like bamboo shoots? You can kill two birds with one stone: limit the nuisance power of bamboo and concoct delicious meals. After all, when it’s fun and it gets rid, everything is fine!
The shoots are not harvested at any time. You have to adopt the Chinese method as explained by Stéphane Alzaix (Newfi Bamboo nursery, in Auvergne)
“You have to take a walk in your bamboo every day, walk like the Chinese with thin-soled shoes to spot the shoots that are about to come out. If you feel them under your feet, you can harvest them for one or two days. later.”
“If you wait too long, the sprouts will be rock hard and impossible to cook.”
Stephane Alzaixat franceinfo
To be able to eat your bamboo shoots, you must first eliminate the bitterness. The culms indeed contain oxalic acid which gives this bitterness.
Simply boil the sprouts for at least 20 minutes. Some species of Phyllostachys, the famous garden riders, are less bitter or not at all. But, if in doubt, boil it, it’s safer.
This operation completed, enjoy! “It’s excellent with minced chicken cooked in a pan, with lemon juice. And there are many Chinese recipes that allow you to really discover the particularities of bamboo shoots. You can also serve them in a salad with a vinaigrette , like you do with leeks.”
You will see it yourself, homemade bamboo shoots have nothing to do with those you find in cans and which are intensively cultivated in Asia…
Bamboo leaves are also edible. The leaves of some species such as Shibatae are used to make tea.
A British start-up has also successfully launched into the production of bamboo water flavored with yuzu, a very popular citrus fruit at the moment.