04.14.07

Hunting Wild Bamboo

Posted in Food and Drink, Local Customs at 12:02 pm by Benjamin Ross

One of my favorite new culinary discoveries in China has been edible bamboo (笋 sun3) . It soaks up flavor like meat, but has a rough texture that is unlike meat or vegetables. Bamboo comes in several varieties including 春笋 chun1 sun3 (spring bamboo), 冬笋 dong1 sun 3 (winter bamboo),　and 苦笋 ku3 sun3 (bitter bamboo).　There are many ways to cook it, but if you want to sample it, I highly recommend trying it dried, and cooked along with pork and hot peppers (辣椒笋干炒肉丝 la4 jiao1 sun3 gan1 chao3 rou4 si1). This dish should be available in most parts of Southern China. If by chance you are in Western Fujian, be sure to try the winter bamboo with processed (almost baconlike) pork.(冬笋炒腊肉 dong1 sun3 chao3 la4 rou4).

After consuming bamboo on a regular basis for over two years, I still was not totally aware of what part of the bamboo I actually was eating. I found out last week, in the little village of 村头村 (Cun Tou Cun) in Western Fujian.

Cun Tou Cun is a small village of 145 people located 10 minutes up the mountain from Gaiyang village. It’s also Melody’s paternal grandfather’s hometown. The village it situated in the middle of a picturesque bamboo forest.

I never was able to understand how a plant like this could end up on my dinner plate. This is because when we eat bamboo, we do not consume the mature plant. We eat its young offspring. Bamboo grows very quickly, and even a sample such as this which is only a few months old, is to mature.

The ideal bamboo plant to eat is just a tip sprouting above the ground. It should point straight up (not leaning to either side), and the leaves should still be green or yellow, having not yet turned to black.

After “hunting” around the forest with Melody’s relatives for about 10 minutes, we found our prey, and began the dig.

Bamboo has strong roots, so to dig it out requires a shovel with a sharp, slicing, edge.

Finally, success. (I’m thinking of sending this pic into Bass Pro Magazine)

The skin is chopped off, and the bamboo is ready to be sliced up and cooked.

Add some pork, hot peppers, salt, sugar, MSG, and soy sauce and you’re ready to go.

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