David Fairchild (1869-1954)
Plant explorer for Department of Agriculture
Typical information says to boil bamboo shoots before cooking them to evaporate cyanide. Phyllostachys bamboos do not have cyanide.
In 2014 the Southeast chapter of the American Bamboo Society paid for me to send fresh hardy bamboo shoots to a lab to test for cyanide. I sent praecox, moso, vivax and Robert Young bamboo shoots both boiled and raw to ALS Environmental, Jacksonville, Florida. All specimens came back with the comments “No cyanide detectable”.
Boiling and throwing away the water is valid for most tropical bamboos many or most of which do have cyanide. It is also valid for moso which has a bitter after taste unless boiled before cooking. Usually, I don’t boil the other Phyllostachys before slicing them and adding them to stir-fries. However, I taste it before cooking. If it is bitter, I do parboil briefly before cooking. My Chinese-American friend boils moso shoots until froth covers the boiling water before cooking them with other ingredients. She parboils all bamboo shoots.
XinYao Kong says “the moso tastes the best when cooked with meat. For example, in a stew with ribs and prosciutto/salted pork, or in a spicy stew with beef short ribs. The animal fat and long hours of stewing help reduce the sourness in it. I like dulcis and Shanghai #3 for stir frying. They taste sweet in themselves so typically go well with veggies and maybe together with a few slices of pork belly.” (by email 3/25/2023)
I boil fresh bamboo shoots and refrigerate them before using them in salads; otherwise, I store them in their sheaths in the vegetable drawer until I am ready to cook them. I slice them in interesting patterns and quickly cook them in hot oil along with garlic, celery, onions and whatever else strikes my fancy.
To prepare a bamboo shoot, slice through the tough outer sheath leaves. Peel them off. (If you have herbivores, they will eat these leaves. Lacking herbivores, they make fine mulch.) Test the butt end of the shoot with your knife. If it is fibrous and woody, cut it off. Discard it. Generally the rings of red dots (root buds) indicate fibrous inedible parts of the shoot.(Again, those herbivores love it.) At this point you can slice the shoot into various shapes such as circles, strips and ovals.)
Wade Bennett of Rock Ridge Orchards in Washington State grills his bamboo shoots. A chef in Seattle told me that she serves shoots broiled in their sheaths to guests. The guests peel the sheaths at the table. They dip the shoots into multiple choices of condiments. Peeling grilled or broiled bamboo shoots makes for a festive dinner like cracking in-shell crabs and lobsters.
A chef in Atlanta, Georgia, while experimenting with shoots that I brought to him, cut a shoot in half length-wise, placed it flat side down on a hot pan and scorched it until tender. Delicious. No parboiling.
Some people say an acrid taste denotes cyanide. Not so. Some of my bamboos have a bitter taste when raw – but no cyanide. Boiling does remove the bitter taste. So does sautéing… for most varieties.
Use your imagination to cut the shoot in various patterns: rings, sticks, ovals. Cut the shoot so its unique form is prominent. Because the shoot is white, I like to stir fry it with colorful vegetables like red bell pepper, yellow squash and green broccoli.
Protect shoots from drying out in the fridge, like any vegetable. Leave the sheaths on the shoots. Peel them when ready to cook. Shoots will last in the fridge for two weeks when covered. The butts will turn brown like the ends of asparagus. You can dip the butts in lemon juice or honey dissolved in water if you wish to delay the browning. Shave off the brown and the rest of the shoot will be fresh and crisp – assuming they were stored in their sheaths. If you know that it will be a while until you can use the shoots, parboil them and store them covered. (I take the sheaths off before parboiling.)
Bamboo shoots remain crisp after cooking. They absorb the flavor of what they are cooked with. They are a white vegetable that adds pattern and crunch to braised type dishes, soups, and stir fries. Because bamboo shoots are white, cook them with assorted colorful vegetables.
Bamboo makes crunchy pickles!