One of the perks of living in the local village or province is that you don’t have to pay for food. Sometimes you must plant in your backyard or look for your neighbor's yard. That’s the best choice. But do you know that one blooming industry is now bamboo? It's not only used as a material in making furniture and bamboo charcoal but also for local food? Here I will show you the local asparagus of Filipinos.
eunoia101
15/07/2022
My mother asked me to harvest bamboo shoots for our lunch, and I had no choice but to obey the commander. I went to the bamboo and looked for the best candidate, not too mature and not so young—just the best for the quality..
The bamboo industry.
Do you know that bamboo is not a tree? We sometimes correct people when they say bamboo tree, for it's not. Bamboo is a type of grass, also the holder of the title‘ tallest grass”. How do I know? That was included in my licensure exams.
In the Philippines, this is what we see as the best substitute for lumbers. Due to illegal logging and deforestation, some communities near the forest area are now in great danger. We can't hide that we need woods in our daily lives; we need fuel or coal. So the Philippines is looking for the best substitute, bamboo propagation.
Bamboo is easy to plant; there are numerous varieties of bamboo in different regions, but not all bamboo can be eastern in its shoots; others are hard as stone.
The future of lumbers is now on bamboo, unlike coco lumber which was not that good, especially after a year of the process, bamboo is versatile, solid, and most significantly, it was environmentally efficient. Bamboo to grow takes one year, unlike a braid, which takes 10 or 20 years.
The Philippines is now under the trend of research; most agriculturists have seen a promising future in bamboo production.
The bamboo in our backyard is older than mine.
The bamboo in our backyard is older than mine.
I grew up. The bamboo has been there for a year, and I lived my whole life that from April to August, the bamboo in our backyard would provide shoots. Bamboo shoot is also available in the local market, yet we have free food just behind our home.
This is the bamboo I gathered from its mother plant. Just like asparagus, only the immature part is harvested; when the shoot reaches maturity, it will soon be grown to become bamboo. I peeled the shell of the bamboo to clean up the debris, one of the living nature houses of ants; bamboo shoots are sweet for insects such as ants in the pre-mudial stages.
Bamboo shoots grow in stems of dead bamboo, sometimes like underground step roots. Also, the best thing about bamboo is it fertilizes its soil. The leaves were deciduous, which meant that in some part of the year, their leaves would fall and be renewed in the next few months; it provides food.
You see, they are compact. Unlike the varieties of bamboo where they will grow individually, bamboo presents are packed, as it prevents soil erosions.
This looked like when the shoot was matured; it took only months for the small node to become giant-looking shoots. They started to love up and strived for the sunlight for their photosynthesis.
After cleaning the debris and washing the specks of dirt, they were sliced into skinny slices. Soon they will go through the boiling process. I don’t know much about the recipes and methods of cooking. Cooking is not my forte anymore.
As is happening in our environment now, locals and researchers are looking for the best alternatives. I also loved the local product; some small business uses bamboo as their main project.
I had some bamboo-based products that I used, but I will share them with you after this blog.
Local products at a local garden.
Image summary:
Lead image was edited with Picsart Application (2509×2509px)
Bamboo pictures was captured with mobile phone 50MP (8160×6144px)
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