Bamboo Shoot Nutrition

Bamboo shoots are becoming rare in Deep Asia, particularly in Manila. The ones you see in wet markets are almost always old enough to be bamboo. It'd be very hard to digest shoots that are almost bamboo sticks, much less get bamboo shoot nutrition. If you want really young shoots you have to get them yourself from bamboo clusters, or else have a trusted market seller reserve them for you. 

Even local eateries that serve bamboo shoot dishes often serve tough shoots. So all you get to enjoy is the stew and the saluyot green veggie which seems to be its partner for life.

Bamboo shoot nutrition is said to be good for anti-aging. Old folks in the province fond of eating labong (the native name for bamboo shoot) are still able to carry a sack of rice to about 10 to 20 feet away. Labong is said to toughen the bones and knees, and old folks insist that the health benefit is a nutritional fact to them. If you want to build your bones and get a powerful bone structure, then eat labong dishes now and then. It's also supposedly for weight loss. Old folks in Deep Asia believe that it burns fats fast and turns loose skin firmer.

Bamboo Shoot Nutrition

Bamboo shoot nutrition is powerfully packed with vitamins and minerals. Just look at its vitamin arsenal: Vitamins A, C, D, E and K, with B6 and B12, plus niacin, thiamine, and folate, among others. It's got protein, calcium, magnesium, manganese, and selenium, to name a few. So shoots build as well as strengthens the body. It's almost like perfect food, a health elixir, except that it is high in sodium. So eat just enough.

Old folks also aver that labong strengthens your immune system so that you get powerfully resistant to any disease. That's the power of bamboo shoot nutrition.

And we know that when old folks say such things on health, there's more than a grain of truth in them. Often, old folks discover health benefits of food long before science does. Science only confirms.

Anyway, I had a grandpa from Bulacan who lived over a hundred and was able to carry a sackful of rice while that old allegedly because he ate fresh vegetables and labong. He saw the Spanish, American and Japanese occupation in the Philippines.

Labong or bamboo shoots can be cooked either in stew flavored with preserved fish or sauteed with coconut milk. Or, it can be wrapped in very thin flour and egg rolls and made into lumpia or rolls.

The shoots are definitely among the important herbs and plants in the Philippines and Asia. That's PhilAsian herbs for your health and wellness!