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Question: Question about bamboo shoots in chinese cooking?
(Posted by: danielrain on 2008-12-01 16:50:45)
I have seen Bamboo shoots in Chinese dishes but I read that Bamboo shoots contain cyanide which is toxic...so how come asain people eat a dangerous poison like bamboo?
Answers:
Posted by: joseph.hussein.foust on 2008-12-01, 17:00:43
There are more than 2,000 different species of bamboo, and although some of them are "poisonous ", the main edible species of bamboo shoots used in China do not contain (or do not contain much) cyanide... Your situation is similar to someone who looks at you, learns you eat mushrooms, and wonders why they haven't poisoned you yet!
Posted by: The Mouse II on 2008-12-02, 02:44:21
If this is the case, you shoudl hear about Chinese dying by the thousands. But you don't do you? So... hope that answered your question. Cheers from Australia
Posted by: yodan888 on 2008-12-02, 05:53:42
Cyanide is found in a variety of food items including apple seeds, cassava root, etc. I've heard that it's also found in ginko nuts (another Chinese food item), but I haven't heard that it's in bamboo shoots. Whatever the case, I would imagine that the actual quantity of cyanide would be quite low and the amount consumed would be non lethal.
