竹 (Mand: zhú; Cant: zuk1) is one of the world's most beautiful plants and definitely the most useful. It is used for so many things. It's a building material - people make houses from it. It is as strong if not stronger than steel and is used as scaffolding across China, but especially in Hong Kong. I look around my home and see this plant everywhere. I have clothes made from it. The pen holder on my desk is made from it. You can even buy computer keyboards and mice made from it. It is made into paper.
In the kitchen, it is even more apparent. Chopping boards, brushes, rolling pins, bowls, baskets, serving dishes, mats, chopsticks, toothpicks and more.
The only thing here which isn't bamboo is the metal hanging ring on the left.
And we eat it.
I am of course, talking bamboo.
There are over 1,400 different species but we mainly eat the shoots of only a few. Phyllostachys edulis and Bambusa oldhamii in particular.
In Chinese the shoots are 竹笋 (Mand: zhú sǔn; Cant: zuk1 seon2) often abbreviated to 笋 (Mand: sǔn; Cant: seon2).
Bamboo shoots
Bamboo shoots contain a cyanogenic glycoside that produces cyanide in the gut, so must be prepared correctly by thorough cooking. The shoots are boiled, then peeled and sliced. These can then be stir fried along with other ingredients.
Peeled shoots
Sliced and peeled sweet bamboo
The bamboo pictured above is referred to as 甜笋 (Mand: tián sǔn; Cant: tim4 seon2) or sweet bamboo. It is sold preprepared in many supermarkets and just needs frying.
Winter bamboo is harvested around November to December. I haven't seen it yet this year.
Winter bamboo
Bamboo is also pickled and is an important ingredient in Liuzhou's signature dish 螺蛳粉 (Mand: luó sī fěn) Luosifen - river snail noodles.
The leaves of bamboo plants are used in the kitchen, too. The are used to wrap various foods, especially 粽子 (Mand: zòng zi; Cant: zung3 zi2), sticky rice dumplings.
Bamboo leaves
Zongzi
The canned bamboo shoots available in many overseas Chinese or Asian stores are unknown here. In fact canned goods at all, are rare.
This is the whole of the canned goods section of one of the city's largest supermarket.
L: Luncheon meat; R Canned fish
