Cyanide and Fresh bamboo shoots?

[Anonymous Modernist 3281]

I went shopping in the asian grocery yesterday and I decided to try buying a fresh bamboo shoot. I went on youtube to find a video on preparing it, and the poster explained that they need to be par boiled until they are tender "to remove the cyanide." that sounds dangerous.

The poster also explained that it's important to throw in rice bran into the water to help "extract the bitterness," which I guess is the cyanide?

I was curious, though, would par cooking at 185F be superior to just boiling it? can a better texture be achieved without sacrificing the important cyanide removal?

Any thoughts or suggestions?

[Ted Blockley]

I'm slowly working my way through McGee's "On Food and Cooking" and came across this topic a couple days ago (p. 258 & 259):

"Cyanogen-rich foods, including manioc, bamboo shoots, and tropical varieties of lima beans, are made safe for consumption by open boiling, leaching in water, and fermentation."

Although there wasn't any elaboration as to how long etc., it does look like there are choices.

[Anonymous Modernist 18279]

fresh bamboo shoots are wonderful. i would parboil them first to get the texture right. i don't think they can possibly contain sufficient cyanide to affect a human. Another alternative is frozen whole bamboo shoots, which have already been parboiled. Either is outrageously superior to canned, which requires soaking and rinsing to eliminate the taste of tin and sodium citrate.