Food & Receipts

Year-end tips for choosing safe and delicious vermicelli, bamboo shoots, and mushrooms that everyone will love.

Glass noodles and shiitake mushrooms are indispensable ingredients for special end-of-year parties and traditional feasts. However, as the year comes to a close, it is important to choose carefully to avoid low-quality products that can cause food poisoning.

Administrator

14 December, 2023

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In the past, glass noodles, ear mushrooms, and shiitake mushrooms were only served at special occasions or during the end of the year. Nowadays, they are more commonly used by many families. However, during the end of the year, they are still “cherished” in family meals because they carry the traditional flavor that cannot be missed. But the end of the year is also the time when fake and genuine goods are mixed together, and the demand for their use increases. Therefore, housewives need to be careful to avoid choosing low-quality goods that can cause poisoning and make the family’s joyful feast turn into a disaster.

How to choose glass noodles

When buying glass noodles, avoid broken, crispy, and cloudy ones. Cloudy color is due to impurities from starch or green beans, potatoes…

The threads of the glass noodles must be long, straight, and not sticky. Broken glass noodles will quickly become soft and mushy when cooked. The glass noodles must be tightly tied or packaged with a clear brand.

Untreated glass noodles are gray but clear. Whitened or yellowish glass noodles are bleached and dyed.

Smell the noodles to see if they have a pleasant smell without any strange, musty odor. Dong glass noodles should be grayish-black in color and should not have any spots or impurities.

Choosing good bamboo shoots

Good bamboo shoots have many short interspaces between its nodes. Old bamboo shoots have long interspaces.

A thick piece of bamboo shoots will be crispy and delicious when cooked. Thin and shriveled bamboo shoots are old, tough, and fibrous.

The color of fresh and good bamboo shoots is pale yellow, beige, and feels firm to the touch with fine veins. If the bamboo shoots are dark yellow and shiny, they have been treated with sulfur to prevent mold.

Smell the bamboo shoots to see if they have the fragrance of young bamboo shoots. If they have a strong, unpleasant odor, it means they contain sulfur.

Avoid buying small pieces of bamboo shoots as they may contain tough and hard-to-distinguish fibers.

No matter what type of bamboo shoots you have, they must be soaked and boiled in water multiple times before they are safe to eat. Avoid soaking them in hot water and rushing to cook, especially if there are elderly or young people.

Choosing good shiitake mushrooms

Shiitake mushrooms with large cracks or very small mushrooms are usually less flavorful. The mushrooms should be thick and have a pleasant smell to ensure their taste. The mushrooms should not be too large, and their color should be rich and not pale. The mushrooms should not be soft or broken.

If the mushrooms have a strange, unpleasant smell and do not have a pleasant aroma, they should not be taken.

Choosing good black fungus

You should hold the black fungus up and squeeze it, a good mushroom will bounce back. The fungus should have large, thick caps that are dark in color, which is tastier than thin ones.

The black fungus should be dry and not stuck together, without torn edges or a sticky surface.

If you notice black spots or white spots on the fungus, do not buy it.

When soaked, the fungus should not be slimy.

Before eating, you should soak the fungus in cool water to let it expand naturally. Avoid soaking it in boiling water as the fungus will lose its taste when cooked.