The Versatile Bamboo is a Major Source of Vegetables in Some Countries

It is used for handicrafts and furniture, fishing materials, making chopsticks and other utensils, and even for housing materials in some rural areas. This arborescent grass - the bamboo - is so versatile that it is very popular to many people, especially because of its many other uses and applications. However, not many countries recognize the bamboo for its being a major source of vegetables.

The bamboo abundantly grows in tropical and temperate regions. It is for this reason perhaps why many people in some countries in Asia, particularly China, regard the bamboo for its culinary use and for being a very good source of vegetables - considered vital components in their everyday meals. The bamboo shoot is particularly valued for its healthful attributes - it is low in crude fat, carbohydrates, and crude fiber contents. It also contains no less than 17 of the essential amino acids: aspartic acid, glutamic acid, proline, leucine, lysine, serine, alanine, valine, arginine, phenylalanine, isoleucine, glycine, threonine, histidine, methionine, tryptophan, and cystine. People who are on weight-reduction programs find the bamboo shoot an ideal nutrient to sustain them in their cause.

Bamboos are cultivated extensively in China. The shoots produced there are processed into different soft-packaged or canned food products, including the grated, boiled and dried types. A specific variety - Bambusa beechayana - can be eaten raw and is also widely-grown there.

In other tropical countries, the bamboo is easily grown. In fact, farmers in that particular region do not experience much of the usual problems associated with the growing of other vegetable crops. Bamboos grow on any type of soil, although it has been observed they grow much better on loose sandy loam type. Such is the ease of cultivating bamboos that they can be grown even in precipitous gorge or steep hills, or, even more conveniently, near residential areas.

Those who have been expertly growing bamboos for years now (basically for shoot production) explain the simple steps involved: A hole, 2 x 2 x 1 meter in dimension, is dug; cuttings are selected, preferably those that have two or three nodes and are from a year-old culm (distance of planting should be 8 x 6 meters); finally, both soil and composts are used to refill the hole.

Unlike other agricultural crops in which planting is done annually or even twice a year, planting a bamboo field is done only once. Other than its being versatile, the bamboo is also much admired for being such a tough plant that it can withstand extreme conditions, such as a prolonged period of dryness. Even when it is burned, it doesn't easily die. What's certain is that in about thirty years, when it has reached the peak of its development (or it has flowered), the bamboo will die. [Read the Original Article]