Takenoko, a bamboo shoot

A Takenoko, meaning a baby of bamboo in Japanese, is a bamboo shoot and also a typical delicious food only during spring season. Kyoto is also famous for its delicious Takenoko.

It is a shoot of bamboo and most of it is covered with the soil. Only the top of it is uncovered.

We cook them in a various way: they are fried as a tempura, boiled with rice, slightly tasted with dashi and soy sauce, and grilled.

They are very healthy: they contain a variety of vitamins, fiber and kalium.

By the way, note that they are need to be boiled as soon as possible after they are dug out. As time goes by, the dug bamboo shoot will turn bitter very soon. So we need to boil them to stop turning bitter.

The top of it, the uncovered part, usually tastes bitter and fortunately the bitter keep animals in the nature from eating it.