More about Nutrition of Bamboo Shoots.
I sell my bamboo shoots mail order. Most of my customers are Asian Americans. They or their parents are from Taiwan, China, Thailand, Korea, and Japan. They all say that fresh bamboo shoots are delicious and healthy. They love the crisp “taste”. I would call it crisp “texture”. Although I eat bamboo shoots every day during the season, I don’t know how to describe the “taste”. To me it is all about the texture and the strong flavors the shoots are cooked with.
When I go on online to find out the nutritional value of bamboo shoots, I read words like the ones below from the Wiley Online Library (Version of Record Online 05 April 2011). What I read on the internet about the great food value of bamboo shoots differs in some categories from the tests we did.
Bamboo shoots are gastronomic treats whether used fresh or in fermented or roasted form. In addition to being delicious, bamboo shoots are rich in some nutrient components, mainly proteins, carbohydrates, and minerals but have a low fat content . Bamboo shoots also contain phytosterols (Chongtham & Bisht authors of “Bamboo Shoot”) and a high amount of fiber that have cholesterol‐lowering and anticarcinogenic activity and therefore could be called nutraceuticals or natural medicines.
With funds from the Southeast Chapter of the American Bamboo Society, I sent briefly boiled shoots to EMSL Analytical for nutritional analysis in 2012. I sent Phyllostachys praecox, P. edulis, and P. bambusoides. The chart below shows the results sent back to me and three other sources of information.
Notice in the chart above, that bamboo shoots are 92 percent water. Calories are low. About as low as tomatoes. For an obese nation, bamboo shoots are healthy food. Zero fat. I also read in various sources on-line that bamboo shoots are rich in fiber. Well, no. Not the young shoots that I harvest. Does chewing the shoot make it seem rich in fiber? Yes. They are crunchy. They move your bowels. Our analysis shows 0.0 grams of fiber for Praecox and Moso. Japanese Timber had 2.15 grams of fiber. Why was Japanese Timber different? Because I had to send slightly older shoots because I had not decided early enough to include Japanese Timber. When I harvested the shoots, it was late in shooting season and they were a few days older than optimum. The older shoot had begun to develop fiber.
To me the expression “rich in amino acids” which I read on-line contradicts the paid-for analysis by EMSL Analytica that my shoots have less than 2% protein.
Eat bamboo shoots. Enjoy the crisp taste and the guilt-free pleasure of eating a low calorie vegetable that fills your stomach. My customers say that because they only can eat the fresh bamboo shoots in season, they have the pleasure of looking forward to that season.
See longer article about Nutrition of Bamboo Shoots.