Not from the Can

I impulsively bought a fresh bamboo shoot at a Chinese super market. I remember bamboo shoots soaked with skins on in water at my home in Japan. But I never learned how to cook them. With Internet, you can find not only new recipes but also mom and grandma's wisdom.

Remove a few layers of skin, chop the head of it in angle, and parboil bamboo shoots with rice bran (or in water you rinse the rice with). Boil till a stick goes easily through the thick part of bamboo shoots. Leave them in the boiling water for over night. Next day, beautiful, smooth bamboo shoots come out of the skin.

I lightly boiled in seaweed broth with broccoli. Subtle - bland for some people - flavor of Japanese spring.