Can you eat bamboo? Yes, but not all of them… Of the 1718 known bamboo species worldwide, 101 species are recorded to have edible shoots. Edible meaning a satisfactory to delicious taste, because even though some bamboo shoots are classified as edible, they must be carefully prepared and boiled before consuming!
Bamboo shoots may contain significant, potentially very toxic amounts of cyanogenic glycosides. Various reports even place bamboo shoots amongst the most potentially toxic plant materials, exceeding apricot, bitter almond stones and considerably exceeding that of cassava.
However, the cyanogenic glycoside in bamboo is in fact taxiphyllin. Taxiphyllin is unusual amongst other similar compounds in the sense that it degrades readily in boiling water. Thus boiling or cooking bamboo shoots before you eat them will eliminate any toxicity. Of course you could also buy canned bamboo shoots that are ready for immediate consumption.
A Complete List of all known Edible Bamboo Species Acidosasa edulis Delicious (5/5) Acidosasa Iingchuanensis Edible (3/5) Bambusa balcooa Female Bamboo Good (4/5) Bambusa bambos Giant Thorny Bamboo Edible (3/5) Bambusa beecheyana Beechey Bamboo Good (4/5) Bambusa blumeana Spiny Bamboo Good (4/5) Bambusa gibboides Good (4/5) Bambusa polymorpha Burmese Bamboo Good (4/5) Bambusa tulda Bengal Bamboo Good (4/5) Bambusa tuldoides Punting Pole Bamboo Good (4/5) Bambusa vulgaris Common Bamboo Edible (3/5) Chimonobambusa communis Good (4/5) Chimonobambusa macrophylla Delicious (5/5) Chimonobambusa marmorea Marbled Bamboo Delicious (5/5) Chimonobambusa pachystachys Delicious (5/5) Chimonobambusa puberula Delicious (5/5) Chimonobambusa quadrangularis Square Bamboo Delicious (5/5) Chimonobambusa rigidula Delicious (5/5) Chimonobambusa szechuanensis Delicious (5/5) Chimonobambusa tumidissinoda Walking Stick Bamboo Delicious (5/5) Chimonobambusa utilis Good (4/5) Chimonocalamus delicatus Aromatic bamboo Delicious (5/5) Dendrocalamus asper Rough Bamboo Good (4/5) Dendrocalamus brandisii Velvet Leaf Bamboo Good (4/5) Dendrocalamus giganteus Giant Bamboo Good (4/5) Dendrocalamus latiflorus Taiwan Giant Bamboo Good (4/5) Dendrocalamus latiflorus 'Mei-Nung' Good (4/5) Dendrocalamus membranaceus Waya Bamboo Edible (3/5) Dendrocalamus strictus Male Bamboo Edible (3/5) Fargesia robusta Umbrella Bamboo Edible (3/5) Gigantochloa atter Giant Atter Good (4/5) Gigantochloa levis Smooth Shoot Gigantochloa Delicious (5/5) Gigantochloa ligulata Good (4/5) Gigantochloa nigrociliata Black Hair Giant Bamboo Good (4/5) Gigantochloa pruriens Good (4/5) Gigantochloa robusta Good (4/5) Gigantochloa thoii Good (4/5) Guadua sarcocarpa Fleshy Fruit Guadua Good (4/5) Himalayacalamus falconeri Good (4/5) Nastus elatus New Guinea Green Edible (3/5) Oxytenanthera abyssinica African Lowland Bamboo Edible (3/5) Phyllostachys acuta Delicious (5/5) Phyllostachys angusta Stone Bamboo Edible (3/5) Phyllostachys arcana Arcana Bamboo Edible (3/5) Phyllostachys atrovaginata Incense Bamboo Edible (3/5) Phyllostachys bambusoides Madake Bitter (2/5) Phyllostachys bambusoides f. shouzhu Edible (3/5) Phyllostachys bissetii Edible (3/5) Phyllostachys circumpilis Edible (3/5) Phyllostachys concava Edible (3/5) Phyllostachys decora Beautiful Bamboo Edible (3/5) Phyllostachys dulcis Sweetshoot Bamboo Delicious (5/5) Phyllostachys edulis Moso Bamboo Good (4/5) Phyllostachys edulis f. edulis Delicious (5/5) Phyllostachys elegans Elegant Bamboo Delicious (5/5) Phyllostachys fimbriligula Delicious (5/5) Phyllostachys flexuosa Zig-Zag Bamboo Delicious (5/5) Phyllostachys glabrata Delicious (5/5) Phyllostachys glauca Good (4/5) Phyllostachys glauca var. variabilis Edible (3/5) Phyllostachys heteroclada Water Bamboo Edible (3/5) Phyllostachys incarnata Delicious (5/5) Phyllostachys iridescens Delicious (5/5) Phyllostachys makinoi Makino Bamboo Edible (3/5) Phyllostachys meyeri Meyer’s Bamboo Edible (3/5) Phyllostachys mirabilis Edible (3/5) Phyllostachys nidularia Delicious (5/5) Phyllostachys nidularia f. farcta Edible (3/5) Phyllostachys nidularia f. speciosa Edible (3/5) Phyllostachys nidularia f. sulfurea Edible (3/5) Phyllostachys nigella Delicious (5/5) Phyllostachys nigra var. henonis Delicious (5/5) Phyllostachys nuda Nude Sheath Bamboo Delicious (5/5) Phyllostachys parvifolia Delicious (5/5) Phyllostachys platyglossa Delicious (5/5) Phyllostachys praecox Delicious (5/5) Phyllostachys praecox f. notata Edible (3/5) Phyllostachys praecox f. viridisulcata Delicious (5/5) Phyllostachys prominens Good (4/5) Phyllostachys propinqua Good (4/5) Phyllostachys propinqua f. lanuginosa Delicious (5/5) Phyllostachys rivalis Delicious (5/5) Phyllostachys robustiramea Edible (3/5) Phyllostachys rubella Edible (3/5) Phyllostachys rubromarginata Red Margin Bamboo Edible (3/5) Phyllostachys rutila Edible (3/5) Phyllostachys sapida Edible (3/5) Phyllostachys sulphurea f. laqueata Good (4/5) Phyllostachys sulphurea f. viridis Good (4/5) Phyllostachys tianmuensis Edible (3/5) Phyllostachys viridiglaucescens Greenwax Golden Bamboo Edible (3/5) Phyllostachys vivax Chinese Timber Bamboo Delicious (5/5) Phyllostachys vivax 'Huangwenzhu' Yellow Groove Vivax Edible (3/5) Phyllostachys vivax f. aureocaulis Golden Chinese Timber Bamboo Edible (3/5) Phyllostachys yunhoensis Delicious (5/5) Pleioblastus hindsii Edible (3/5) Sasa kurilensis Chishima Zasa Good (4/5) Sasaella masamuneana Edible (3/5) Thamnocalamus aristatus Edible (3/5) Thyrsostachys siamensis Monastery Bamboo Good (4/5) Yushania maling Good (4/5) Impact of Food-based Cyanide on HumansCyanide can and does cause significant health problems at sub-lethal levels. Some of the cassava-eaters in Africa have suffered harmful effects to the nervous system, including weakness of the fingers and toes, difficulty walking, dimness of vision, and deafness.
Some children who ate large quantities of apricot stones, which naturally contain cyanide as part of complex sugars, had rapid breathing, low blood pressure, headaches, and coma, and some died.
How to Detect Cyanide in Bamboo Shoots?There are simple test kits to determine the presence of cyanide in bamboo shoots that can be used by an unskilled person for looking at cyanide levels in bamboo shoots, cassava roots and products, as well as other cyanogenic plant parts such as sorghum leaves, and flax seed meal.
The general principle is that a small sample of the plant or product is placed in a container with filter paper containing the required catalyst and a piece of picrate paper that reveals the amount of poison produced. The bottle is left overnight at room temperature. Next morning, when the breakdown to poisonous gas is completed, the color of the picrate paper indicates the level of toxicity.
How to Remove Cyanide in Bamboo Shoots?The cyanogen in bamboo is taxiphyllin and therefore one of the few cyanogenic compounds that decompose quickly when placed in boiling water. Bamboo becomes edible because of this instability.
Boiling bamboo shoots for 20 minutes at 98°C removes nearly 70% of the HCN while all improvements on that (higher temperatures and longer intervals) remove progressively up to 96%. Thus even the highest quoted figures of cyanide found in bamboo shoots would be detoxified after cooking them for 2 hours.
Prepare fresh bamboo shoots for adding to your favorite dishes. Learn how to cook bamboo the traditional Japanese way.
Forum Discussions that you might find interesting: Stéphane SchröderGuadua Bamboo SAS
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