bamboos: theie culture and uses 21 
food are available. These are allowed to reach a height of 6 to 10 
inches, when they are cut off below the ground, like asparagus. The 
usual practice is to dig down and cut off the young shoots at the 
rhizome which bears them. (PL VI.) 
Bamboo shoots are known to most persons who are familiar with 
the chop-suey dishes served in Chinese restaurants, but methods of 
utilizing them in American cookery have not yet been thoroughly 
worked out. The suggestions given below are offered, however, as 
the result of some preliminary cooking experiments. 
Kemove sheaths and cut the shoots into pieces, crosswise, lengthwise, or 
diagonally, or into squares or oblong pieces. Boil in a small quantity of salted 
water (adding more water as needed) 30 minutes or more until fairly tender. 
Shoots of suitable age when properly cooked are always firm and somewhat crisp 
rather than soft. Pieces from the base of a shoot may require more cooking 
than those from nearer the tip, but they generally have a better flavor. 
Bamboo shoots may be served with plain butter, butter sauce, or cream 
sauce. The flavor somewhat resembles very young field corn, with a slight 
bitterness, which is made entirely unobjectionable by the addition of the 
butter or other dressing. 
When cut into suitable small pieces the cooked shoots may also make an 
acceptable addition to a salad. 
The following directions for cooking are taken from Fairchild's 
publication (4, p. 25) : 
1. Bamdoo sprouts ivith cream sauce. — These sprouts are cut when about a 
foot above the ground, by digging down to the rhizomes which bear them. 
After being gathered the outside sheaths are removed, and the shoots are 
soaked for half an hour in cold water. They are then cut in thin slices, about 
3 inches long bj^ 1 inch square, and thrown into boiling water containing a 
small teaspoonful of salt and are boiled from an hour to an hour and a half, 
or until tender. The pieces are then drained and a white sauce is poured 
over them, which is made in the following way : To a half pint of cream or 
milk add a teaspoonful of butter ; season with salt and black pepper. Allow 
this to boil up and serve at once. If desired, this sauce may be thickened 
with flour. 
2. Battihoo shoots in butter. — Slice and cook, as in the previous recii5e, until 
tender. Into a saucepan put three tablespoonfuls of butter, seasoned with 
pepper, salt, and a little chopped parsley. When heated, put in the bamboo. 
Shake and turn until the mixture boils ; then lay the bamboo on a hot platter, 
pour the butter over it, and serve at once. 
3. Bamboo shoots, Japanese style. — Slice and cook the bamboo until tender, 
as in recipe No. 1 ; then put into a sauce made as follows : Take one coffee 
cup full of soy sauce (this is the basis of Worcestershire sauce and obtained 
only at Chinese or Japanese grocers or at some of the largest groceries in our 
large cities), one-fourth cupful of water, one heaping teaspoonful of sugar; 
let boil for half an hour in this sauce and serve. 
COMMERCIAL USES 
The commercial uses of bamboos, as distinguished from domestic 
uses, involve their planting and production on a more or less 
extensive scale so as to secure materials in quantity for manufactur- 
ing purposes for certain of the arts and possibly for food. 
The manufacture of fancy fly rods or split-bamboo fishing rods, 
for example, involves the use of large quantities of special bamboo 
material now imported from the Orient, chiefly from India. It is 
generalh^ understood that the most desirable material for making 
these choice fl}^ rods is derived from Bamhos tuJda^ commonly re- 
ferred to in the trade as the Calcutta bamboo. Reliable figures are 
not available as to the quantit}^ and value of these materials im- 
ported, nor are data at hand as to the value of the finished fly rods. 
