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Bamboo shoots




Source of Recipe


Newspaper/ Vern Nelson
Phyllostachys dulcis can be eaten raw or cooked.

Here are some of my favorite bamboos for supplying fresh shoots for stir-fry. Just snap the shoots off as far down as you can go, and peel off the exterior sheath blades to expose the edible interior. Additional culinary uses are as noted. (See caveat at end.)

bambooshoots2.JPGWikimedia CommonsYoung shoots of Phyllostachys aureosulcata 'Lama Temple' have excellent flavor.
Phyllostachys angusta: Zones 6-10, sun to light shade, 12 to 21 feet tall with 1 1/2-inch diameter shoots. Very slow spreader, frequently clumps. Excellent flavor stir-fried.

P. aureosulcata: Zones 5-10, sun to half shade, 13 to 30 feet tall with 2-inch-diameter shoots. Spreads 4 to 10 feet in a decade. Excellent flavor stir-fried. Some culms zigzag.

P. dulcis: Zones 6-10, sun to light shade, 20 to 40 feet with 3-inch-diameter shoots. Spreads 5 to 13 feet in a decade. Excellent flavor raw or stir-fried.

P. flexuosa: Zones 6-9, sun to light shade, 13 to 30 feet with 1 1/2-inch-diameter shoots. Spreads 3 to 6 1/2 feet in a decade. Excellent flavor stir-fried.

P. nidularia: Zones 7-10, sun to light shade, 16 to 33 feet tall with 1 3/4-inch-diameter shoots. Spreads 3 1/2 to 6 1/2 feet in a decade. Excellent flavor stir-fried.

Fargesia nitida: Zones 5-9, light to half shade, 12 to 15 feet with 3/4-inch-diameter shoots. It is a clumping bamboo so spreads very slowly, 2 to 3 1/2 feet in a decade. Small diameter but very good stir-fried or raw.

TIPS

Bamboo needs a mulch, nourishment and moisture to produce well. A thick mulch of bamboo duff will help produce longer, blanched bamboo shoots. Mix a nitrogen-rich fertilizer like 28-14-14 or a soluble fertilizer such as Miracle-Gro into the soil. Lawn fertilizers also produce good bamboo. Top-dress your grove with rotted manure. (Alternatives include blood meal, animal bedding, rotted straw, alfalfa pellets, compost or shredded leaves with applications of dilute kelp and seaweed.) Use high-nitrogen fertilizers for spring and summer. Use high phosphorus and potassium and lower nitrogen for the fall applications.

Harvesting shoots can help to contain and guide bamboo spread. The shooting period for most species is April through June.

SOURCES

Bamboo Garden, North Plains

Tradewinds Bamboo Nursery, Gold Beach

Caveat: Some tropical and semitropical bamboos, including species of Bambusa, Dendrocalamus, Gigantochloa and Guadua, contain cyanide that must be leached or boiled out before eating. No tropical or semitropical bamboo shoot should be eaten raw unless you have certain knowledge that it's safe, according to Ted Jordan Meredith in "Bamboo for Gardens" (Timber Press, 2001).