What does water bamboo look like? Is it a "trigger food," and how should you eat it?

Water bamboo, also known as gaogua, wild rice shoot, jiaobai shoot, and gaosun. It is a relatively common aquatic vegetable, and China was the first country to cultivate water bamboo as a vegetable, so what exactly does water bamboo look like? Is it a trigger food? How do you eat it? According to sources, the water bamboo plant is 1.6 to 2 m tall. Its roots are fibrous roots, growing in a ring at each node of the tillering nodes and stolons, 20-70 cm long and 2-3 mm thick, mainly distributed in the soil layer 30 cm below ground, and numerous. Its seeds are called wild rice or diaohu, and are one of the “six grains” (rice, millet, broomcorn millet, sorghum, wheat, and wild rice). Later people discovered that some wild rice plants, infected with smut fungus, do not head out and show no signs of disease, while the stem keeps swelling and gradually forms a spindle-shaped fleshy stem, which is the water bamboo eaten today. In this way, people use the smut fungus to prevent water bamboo from flowering and fruiting, and propagate this diseased, malformed plant as a vegetable. It can also be used as medicine.

Is water bamboo a trigger food?

Water bamboo is a trigger food, and it is also relatively high in oxalic acid, so it is better to blanch it in boiling water before cooking.

How do you eat water bamboo?

1. Plain stir-fried water bamboo

Cut the water bamboo, red pepper, and green pepper all into shreds, and slice the garlic for later use. Heat oil in a wok, add the garlic slices and fry until fragrant, then add the green and red peppers and stir-fry briefly. Add the shredded water bamboo and stir-fry together; while stir-frying, you can add an appropriate amount of water so it does not feel dry. Stir-fry until the water bamboo becomes soft, add light soy sauce and salt to season, stir evenly, and take it out of the wok.

2. Stir-fried water bamboo with pork slices

Prepare water bamboo, pork, and green pepper; cut the pork into slices, cut the water bamboo and green pepper into shreds, and chop the scallion, ginger, garlic, and chili for later use. Put the fatty meat into the wok first and fry until the oil comes out. Add the scallion, ginger, garlic, and chili and fry until fragrant, then add the pork and stir-fry. When the color changes, add sweet bean sauce and stir-fry, then add a little dark soy sauce for color. Stir-fry until cooked, take it out, and set aside. Clean the original wok, heat it, add a small amount of oil, then add the scallion and fry until fragrant, add the shredded water bamboo and shredded green pepper and stir-fry; after they are cooked, add the pork and stir-fry briefly, add salt, pepper powder, and MSG, mix well, and take it out of the wok.

3. Braised water bamboo in oil

Peel off the outer skin of the water bamboo, wash it, split it open, and cut it into one-inch sections. Heat a wok, add base oil and heat it, then add the water bamboo and stir-fry for one or two minutes. Add one spoonful of white sugar for seasoning, add dark soy sauce for color, stir-fry evenly, then add an appropriate amount of clear water. Bring to a boil over high heat, turn to medium heat and braise until the flavors are absorbed and the color is bright red, turn off the heat, take it out of the wok, and sprinkle with some chopped scallion.

Dietary precautions for water bamboo

1. Generally, everyone can eat it.

2. It is especially suitable for people with high blood pressure, patients with icteric hepatitis, women lacking breast milk after childbirth, and patients with excessive drinking or alcohol poisoning.

3. Because water bamboo contains relatively large amounts of insoluble calcium oxalate, its calcium is not easily absorbed by the human body, so it is not suitable for people with impotence, spermatorrhea, spleen deficiency and stomach cold, kidney disease, urinary tract stones, those with relatively many oxalate crystals in the urine, or those with diarrhea.

4. Water bamboo is cold in nature and can bring on old illnesses, so those with deficiency-cold in the intestines and stomach and those with purulent sores should not eat it.

5. Water bamboo is an acidic food, so it should not be eaten when taking sulfa drugs.

6. Water bamboo contains a lot of oxalic acid, and tofu contains relatively large amounts of magnesium chloride and calcium sulfate. If the two enter the human body at the same time, they will form insoluble calcium oxalate, which will not only cause calcium loss but may also deposit into stones.