Grow and Cook Bamboo

Wendy Kiang-Spray, author of The Chinese Kitchen Garden, talks about how to grow and cook bamboo.

Wendy Kiang-Spray’s children don’t recognize canned bamboo shoots. That says a lot about the difference between fresh bamboo and its canned cousin.

Kiang-Spray, author of The Chinese Kitchen Garden, grew up eating fresh bamboo, one of the many crops her father grows in his large garden.

She talks about growing, harvesting, and cooking bamboo.  

Grow Bamboo

There are two groups of bamboo:

• Running bamboos spread quickly by underground rhizomes.

• Clumping bamboos grow in clumps.

Kiang-Spray points out that running bamboo might not be suited to small yards—at least not without measures to contain it. “It would be a big mistake in my suburban backyard; all my neighbours would hate me,” she says, as she talks about how quickly running bamboos can spread. A running bamboo spread to her yard from a neighbour’s yard over 100 feet away…not exactly a slow-growing plant.

To keep running bamboo in check she suggests:

• Grow in containers

• Plant on high berms (new shoots coming out the side will be easy to spot)

• Instal a metal, plastic, or concrete barrier, buried to a depth of approximately 30 inches

Harvest Bamboo

Bamboo is harvested in the spring. Kiang-Spray says to use a knife — or to simply kick it over. “They should snap really easily,” she says, likening it to asparagus.

After harvest, cut shoots lengthwise and remove the edible “heart” by scooping it out with a thumb.

Fresh bamboo must be boiled prior to use to denature toxins. Boil uncovered for 30 minutes before use.