What do you say marks an early spring?
Plum blossoms, Cherry blossoms, longer sun light, sleepy morning, or birds' singing?
For me, it is the time I cook bamboo shoots.
I went digging up bamboo shoots this afternoon.
Thanks to only a few days of rain, I got more bamboo shoots than I had expected.
This is today's harvest.
As soon as I got home, I boiled them all in two big pans and I'll leave them overnight.
Tomorrow I'm going to cook TAKENOKO GOHAN(steamed rice with bamboo shoots) and the day after tomorrow I'll cook the boiled bamboo shoots in the bonito broth seasoned with soy sauce and Mirin(cooking sake).
I've been wondering if the white substance, Tyrosine (チロシン in Japanese) that comes out of the bamboo is harmless or not. To clear my conscious, I looked up books, on the internet, and YouTube about it and I learned that Tyrosine is one of the 20 standard amino acids.
It may help decreasing your stress and enhance your concentration ability.
Although we boiled them for nearly an hour for getting rid of the harsh taste, the bamboo shoots are still rich in vitamins, potassium (カリウム), zink (亜鉛), fiber, and other minerals.