THE USEFUL BAMBOO

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23362, 30 November 1937, Page 2

THE USEFUL BAMBOO

In an article in The P.L.A. Monthly—the magazine of the Port of London Authority—on " Canes and Rattans," the writer mentions some of the many uses of the bamboo. In Europe it may be mainly used for whacking or walking, but in Malaya the natives pickle the tender shoots in vinegar flavoured with pepper and eat them with their food, he says. In other Oriental countries the shoots are salted and eaten with rice, or served like asparagus. The Chinese use bamboo grain as a food, and the Hindus mix it with honey and eat it as a delicacy. In older shoots a fluid is found secreted in the hollow joints, which gradually develops into a substance known as bamboo manna, or tabashir. This substance was once highly valued in the East for its medicinal properties and for its use in optical cases.