In Asia, bamboo has been used as a traditional food for a very long time. In the meantime, more and more friends of Asian cuisine around the world appreciate bamboo as tea, bamboo water, vegetables, asparagus substitutes or sprouts in the kitchen and on the plate.
Bamboo as a food plant is comparable to the coconut palm. Plant parts of the following types of bamboo are particularly suitable for consumption:
- Bambusa
- dendrocalamus
- Phyllostachys edulis
- Phyllostachys glauca
- Phyllostachys nigra Boryana
Bamboo products packaged and pre-cooked or available loose in Germany are imports from Asia and Latin America. In Europe, bamboo as a foodstuff has so far only been cultivated in Italy near Genoa (Val Fontanabuona).
Bamboo as a plant food and drink
Both seeds, grains, sprouts, saplings and young shoots of bamboo plants can contain bitter substances and the toxic hydrogen cyanide glycoside in the raw state. Cooking neutralizes the bitter and toxins. Freshly harvested bamboo shoots or bamboo tips have a very firm, light yellow flesh.
Bamboo tea made from young bamboo leaves or the oat-like grain of bamboo is considered very healthy in Asia because of its high silica and silicon content. A herbal tea can also be made from young bamboo leaves of the Sasa palmata and Sasa kurilensis varieties. Bamboo tea does not contain theine or caffeine and is therefore also suitable for children.
Bamboo as medicine
Energized bamboo water and bamboo extract are also used in traditional medicine for various ailments.
Bamboo leaves are also the main source of food for the panda bear. It eats up to 20 kg of bamboo per day and is insensitive to the hydrocyanic acid contained in raw plants.
tips and tricks
In Japan, bamboo shoots are cooked with rice flour. You can get them inserted from us as Achia or Atchia.