UTILIZATION AND COMPOSITION OF ORIENTAL VEGETABLES 3 
The succulent shoot is sheathed with alternating clasping scales. 
The core within the scales is the edible part of the shoot. The 
bamboo plant from which the shoots are derived grows 10 to 36 feet 
high, and each culm measures 3 to 6 inches in diameter. The plant 
is a native of China and Japan. 
The young shoots are found in season on the local market, where 
they are kept partly submerged in fresh water to retain their 
crispness. 
Bamboo shoot is a favorite ingredient in many of the dishes of the 
people of the Far East. Bamboo shoot is also used as one of the 
ingredients in the well-known Japanese dish, sukiyaki. After the 
scaly leaves are removed, the tender core of the shoot is cut in small 
slices for use in flavoring soups and for frying with bean sprouts, 
or with Chinese preserving melon or edible-podded peas. 
Figure 2. — Beau sprouts : A, Small variety ; B, large variety 
Large or Soybean Sprouts {Glycine hispida). (Fig. 2B) 
Chinese name: Dai-tau-nga 
Shape: Succulent shoots which grow from freshly germinated seeds having 
two large yellow cotyledons and a long, narrow taproot. 
Size: Stem and root 3 to 3% inches long, one-eiuhth inch thick; cotyledons 
five-eighths inch long and five-sixteenths inch in diameter. 
Color: Stem and root, white; cotyledons, yellow. 
The soybean plant is a hairy, bushy annual, and its native home is 
China and Japan (#, p. 1+03). 
The large bean sprouts are prepared daily for the vegetable market 
in Honolulu. The sprouts are obtained by germinating the soybean. 
The period of germination is from four to six days. The beans 
are washed, submerged in water in a container for 24 hours, and then 
drained. A damp cloth, sack or grass-woven mat is placed over the 
container. A fresh supply of water is added to the container at 
