Food & Receipts

Fresh Bamboo Shoots: Delicious but Poisonous if Cooked Incorrectly – A Crucial Step Every Home Cook Must Remember

Fresh bamboo shoots are delicious and versatile, making them a popular choice for meals. However, if not prepared correctly, they can pose a health risk due to potential poisoning.

Administrator

13 March, 2024

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Fresh bamboo shoots are a popular ingredient in many delicious dishes, such as pickles, stir-fries, soups, etc. That’s why many Vietnamese people love to eat bamboo shoots. However, bamboo shoots naturally contain a toxin called cyanide. After consumption, this toxin is converted into hydrogen cyanide (HCN) by gastric enzymes. This is a strong poison that can cause death even at low levels, just 230 mg of cyanide can be fatal. Poisoning victims often experience dizziness, anxiety, confusion, headache, and nausea. Severe poisoning can lead to difficulty breathing, low blood pressure, unconsciousness, convulsions, locked jaw, and dilated pupils. Victims may experience respiratory failure, cyanosis, unconsciousness, and ventricular arrhythmia. Bamboo shoot poisoning can even be fatal.

Bamboo shoots are delicious but need careful processing

Harmful bamboo shoot processing methods

Eating unripe pickled bamboo shoots

Pickled bamboo shoots with garlic vinegar are delicious, but if they are not pickled long enough, they still contain toxins. If the bamboo shoots are boiled and soaked for a long time, turning yellow and having a sour smell, the cyanide content is less than 9 mg per kg. Therefore, if you eat pickled bamboo shoots that haven’t been pickled long enough, haven’t turned yellowish and haven’t smelled sour yet, the risk of poisoning is still very high.

Improper cooking methods

When cooking bamboo shoots, they need to be soaked, washed, and boiled properly to remove all toxins. When you bring fresh bamboo shoots home, you should soak them in clean water overnight to reduce toxins. Boil the bamboo shoots over medium heat, turn off the heat when the shoots are tender. When the bamboo shoots cool down, peel off the skin, rinse again with clean water before cooking.

Pickled bamboo shoots must be pickled enough before consumption

When cooking bamboo shoots, it is necessary to cook them thoroughly and open the lid to let the toxins evaporate. Before drying or sun-drying the bamboo shoots, soak them in saltwater or boil them thoroughly. When using dried bamboo shoots for stir-frying or cooking, you should rehydrate them with hot water or boil them again. Raw bamboo shoots should not be eaten.

Eating bamboo shoots when experiencing stomach pain

Bamboo shoots contain a lot of indigestible fiber, so people with stomach pain will find it difficult to digest because the stomach has to work and contract a lot to grind the fiber. In addition, the toxins in bamboo shoots can irritate the stomach, leading to nausea, bloating, or worsening the symptoms of ulcerative mucosa. Eating bamboo shoots together with hong ngam can make the fiber in the bamboo interact with the hong resin to form clumps in the digestive tract, causing abdominal pain.

The habit of eating raw bamboo shoots or lightly blanched bamboo shoots can also be harmful because the toxins may still be present in the bamboo shoots due to improper processing.

Pregnant women in the early stages of pregnancy often have not adapted to changes in their bodies, so they may experience morning sickness and have difficulty digesting food, so they should not eat bamboo shoots. Moreover, the amount of toxins in bamboo shoots can affect the fetus.

Thoroughly soak and boil bamboo shoots before cooking

Children in the developmental stage should not eat bamboo shoots because the oxalic acid in fresh bamboo shoots affects the absorption and utilization of calcium and zinc in the body. Oxalic acid in bamboo shoots can combine with calcium in the body to form calcium oxalate, leading to urinary calculi. Therefore, people with kidney stones should not eat a lot of fresh bamboo shoots.

Safe detoxification methods for consuming bamboo shoots

To ensure safety when using fresh bamboo shoots, we can apply the following detoxification methods:

Soak in clean water

After removing the leaves (bamboo sheaths), you need to wash away the soil and sand, then depending on the type of bamboo shoots, whether they are highly toxic or less toxic, regular or bitter bamboo shoots, there are different handling methods. You can cut them into thin slices or shred them into small fibers and soak them in clean water overnight to reduce toxins, then wash them again before cooking them into dishes.

Detoxify with bitterleaf

Pick the bamboo shoots, peel off the skin, cut them into small slices, add a handful of bitterleaf, and boil them once. When the shoots are cooked, remove the hot water, then pour cold water, remove the bitterleaf, and rinse again with cold water before cooking them into dishes.

Use chili and rice water

Soaking bamboo shoots with fresh chili and rice water is also a way to detoxify the toxins in bamboo shoots. You can also boil the bamboo shoots in rice water and chili, wait for them to cool, remove the skin, then rinse them a few more times with clean water. The bamboo shoots will no longer taste bitter, and you can prepare dishes with them.

Soaking in lime water

For highly toxic and bitter bamboo shoots, you should soak them in lime water because it can neutralize the toxins. Then boil the shoots several times. During boiling and cooking, it’s best to uncover the lid to allow the toxins to evaporate.

Soaking/boiling in hot water

Soaking bamboo shoots in hot saltwater can also help detoxify them. It is best to boil them 2-3 times before cooking to make them safer to eat.

Frequently asked questions

Bamboo shoots naturally contain a toxin called cyanide, which can be converted into hydrogen cyanide (HCN) by gastric enzymes after consumption. This poison can be deadly even in small amounts, with as little as 230 mg of cyanide posing a fatal risk. Symptoms of poisoning include dizziness, anxiety, confusion, headache, nausea, and in severe cases, difficulty breathing, low blood pressure, unconsciousness, and convulsions.

It is important to properly process bamboo shoots to remove all toxins. Soak fresh bamboo shoots in clean water overnight to reduce toxins, then boil them thoroughly. Before cooking, peel and rinse the shoots again. Pickled bamboo shoots should be fully matured and yellowish in color, indicating that they have been adequately processed. Always cook bamboo shoots thoroughly and allow them to evaporate during cooking. Rehydrate dried bamboo shoots before stir-frying or cooking. Avoid consuming raw bamboo shoots.

Pregnant women, especially in the early stages of pregnancy, should avoid consuming bamboo shoots due to potential morning sickness and difficulty digesting the shoots. The toxins in bamboo shoots can also affect the fetus. Children in their developmental stage should also refrain from eating bamboo shoots as the oxalic acid present can interfere with the absorption of calcium and zinc. People with kidney stones should exercise caution as the oxalic acid in bamboo shoots can form calcium oxalate, contributing to urinary calculi.

To ensure safety, thoroughly soak bamboo shoots in clean water after removing the leaves and washing away soil and sand. You can also cut them into thin slices or shred them before soaking. Detoxify with bitter leaf by boiling the shoots with a handful of bitter leaf, then rinsing with cold water before cooking. Soaking bamboo shoots in chili and rice water or lime water are also effective methods to neutralize toxins. Be sure to boil the shoots multiple times and keep the lid open during the process to allow for toxin evaporation.