I have never been super outdoorsy. I have always appreciated the great outdoors, but never felt the call to get out there and experience it up close and personal. I grew up working with horses, so I was always “outside”, so when it came to voluntarily sleeping in a tent or blazing a trail into the woods in my spare time, it was always a hard pass from me.
Until we moved to Japan…
Okinawa Japan to be more specific. It is a tiny island south of mainland Japan and the top half of this little gem is covered in lush jungles that changed my mind about exploring.
On a short trek to a beautiful beach or waterfall, we would pass by many varieties of wild flowers, mushrooms, sugar cane and thick groupings of the most beautiful bamboo. While just about everything there was beautiful, it was the bamboo that always got me to stop in awe.
Bamboo is so uniform and tall and strong and then those leaves way at the top create the most beautiful canopy that both shades everything underneath from the blazing sun and made it possible for us to keep exploring even when a rain storm would pop up and pass by.
When we returned to the US, I loved seeing big groups of bamboo growing along the back roads of eastern North Carolina, but I had no idea that these beautiful sky high shoots could be foraged and brought back into my own kitchen.
A few weeks ago, my dear friend Joan offered to take me to one of her special bamboo foraging spots to share the art of picking, gathering and preparing fresh bamboo. I was so excited! I really never thought about the fact that bamboo is edible and quite nutritious too, so the thought of finding my own and experiencing the whole process of gathering and cooking wild bamboo straight from where it sprouted up was something that I really appreciated.
So we met at the spot and headed into the woods. The groups of bamboo look mostly the same in both North Carolina and Okinawa, the main difference is that instead of watching out for huntsman spiders and habu snakes, we were on the lookout for ticks and copperheads here in NC.
Joan showed me the little shoots we were hunting for and the search was on. Bamboo is typically ready to harvest in April and May here in North Carolina, when the shoots just start to peak out of the ground and are still tender. Bamboo grows very fast, so you may harvest a few shoots on one day and then go back a couple of days later to find a whole bunch more.
Bamboo can reach its full height in only about 6 months, so you have to get the shoots early in order to make sure they are tender and edible.
Once we found some shoots, Joan used a sharp knife to dig down around the base of the shoots about four to six inches under ground. All of the white portion of the shoot you can see in the photo above was under the soil.
Once we gathered a bunch of shoots, Joan sent me back to my own kitchen with instructions on how to prepare these little beauties for consumption. This whole process was so cool. It felt amazing to be out there foraging our future food and then bringing the hull back to my kitchen was thrilling. I could not wait to start prepping them…
Step one is to peel the shoots. Although bamboo feels so stiff and hearty, these shoots peeled easily and felt similar to shucking corn. I peeled back everything that felt rough and then rinsed any dirt off of the shoots.
I trimmed any tough ends off and repeated the process until all of my shoots were peeled and clean.
Some of the shoots were larger than others, so I used a sharp knife to cut them all into similar sizes.
Step two is to boil the bamboo, so I filled a large pot with water, added the shoots and brought it to a boil.
After talking to Joan and doing some research, I found many suggestions when it comes to how long bamboo needs to be boiled, but everyone seemed to agree that it was until the thickest part of the shoots could be easily pierced with a thin knife or toothpick. This took my bamboo about 90 minutes, but this time will need to be adjusted depending on how thin or thick your shoots are.
If you are wondering why we have to boil the bamboo it is because fresh bamboo contains cyanogenic glycosides or cyanide that is released when digested. The cyanide in bamboo is called a taxiphyllin, which is produced by many plants. The good thing about this toxin is that it is easily removed by boiling and it tastes very bitter when ingested, so it is very easy to tell when your bamboo is safe to consume.
Some bamboo aficionados suggested changing the water out about half way through the boiling process, so at the 40 minute mark, I drain the water, gave my bamboo a quick rinse and refilled the pot with water and brought it back to a boil. Some say that this step is not necessary, but I did it anyways and my bamboo tasted fantastic.
Once my bamboo was fully boiled and nicely tender, I sliced it into several different shapes for a few recipes I wanted to try. The bamboo that I wanted to pickle went straight into my pickling liquid and the other bamboo was transferred into an airtight container and stored in my refrigerator for a few days.
Freshly boiled bamboo can be kept in your refrigerator for about a week, but if you want to keep some of your bamboo on hand for a longer period of time, they can also be frozen. Simple allow your boiled bamboo to cool, pat them dry with a paper towel, wrap them in a layer of plastic wrap and foil and freeze them for up to 6 months.
Bamboo shoots are a staple in Asian cooking due to both their abundance and their high nutritional value. Bamboo contains fiber, copper and vitamins B and E. In a study referred to on HealthLine’s website, bamboo can help reduce cholesterol levels, promote gut health and due to their low calorie to fiber content ratio, can be used in a healthy weight loss plan.
There are many benefits to working bamboo into your meal plan..
The whole experience of foraging for the bamboo, bringing it home and preparing it in my own kitchen was something that I will never forget and definitely plan to do again soon. I used my initial batch to make some sweet and sour pickled bamboo, which was fantastic and a big pot of hot and sour bamboo soup, which was incredibly delicious and comforting.
I had so much fun out there in the great outdoors with my friend Joan that maybe I will venture out there more often…
