Dendrocalamus latiflorus

Bamboo

HomeBambooDendrocalamus latiflorus

Not known

Family: Poaceae
Height: 20 m / 66 ft
Sun
Light, Medium and Heavy Soil
Moist

Plant Rating

Edible Uses: 4 of 5
Medicinal Uses: 0 of 5
Other Uses: 2 of 5

Native Habitat

Sweet Bamboo, Sweet bamboo shoot, Taiwan giant bamboo Dendrocalamus latiflorus native habitat is Not known

Edible Uses

Young stems - raw or cooked. Unusually free of any unpleasant taste, even when raw. Considered to be delicious. They are also shredded and dried then used in Chinese-style snacks in Japan. The stems can be 15 - 30cm in diameter. Young shoots are harvested 7 - 25 days after emergence, when they are 35 - 60 cm tall. Harvesting may start in the 2nd year of growth of a clump. Harvested shoots are steamed, cut lengthwise, cleaned and sterilized for 15 minutes in pure or salted boiling water before eating or canning. When boiled in pure water a white compound (containing 90% tyrosine) usually precipitates, which can be removed by boiling for 1.5 hours in a 0.06 - 0.07% citric acid solution, followed by 12 hours of washing. For the production of fermented dry shoots, the middle parts of shoots are boiled first and then left to ferment for 2 - 4 weeks, and subsequently sliced into parts of 4 - 5 cm x 2.8 mm. In the Philippines harvested culms are either dried directly in the sun or shade or first kept in running water for several weeks before being air dried.