Take no Ko

Spring visited Japan a good number of weeks ago, and along with it all manner of plants burst into bloom and insects once again appeared in startling number. And 竹の子 (take no ko, or, bamboo shoots) appeared along with the bunch. As a number of you may or may not already know, I house 2 is surrounded by a bamboo forest, and so, naturally, the bamboo shoots made their appearance in our backyard as well.

I’ve always liked bamboo shoots, so when upon returning home from classes the Moritas waved me into their room and gestured to a large bag of bamboo shoots, offering me one, I decided I would do my best to try and cook it. Despite my lack of progress I’ve been trying pretty hard to learn how to cook various dishes throughout the year. The take no ko seemed like a welcome challenge.

So I took the bamboo sprout back to my room and turned to the internet, referencing a number of recipes, blogs and youtube videos, and then set to work. I boiled the take no ko in the white water that comes off rice when you wash it before cooking (this is supposed to take the bitterness out of the bamboo sprouts) and then fried it up in butter and soy sauce the way the Moritas recommended. The result ended up being a very delicious topping for rice, and I was really pleased.

The culinary experiment having succeeded splendidly, on my next trip to the store I went hunting for more take no ko to bring home with me. What I discovered was a selection of small ¥400 take no ko, and several larger ¥120 ones. Now, you may wonder why there’s such a big gap in the price, but the answer is pretty simple. The ¥400 take no ko are produced in Japan, and the ¥120 ones come from China.

If you shop in Japan, you’ll notice pretty quickly that all of the vegetable, fish and meat products are clearly labeled 国内産業 (koku-nai sangyou, referring of course to Japan,) 中産業 (chuu sangyou, referring to China.) There is also a division set up for Korea, but the two I want to talk about are the Japan-produced products and the China-produced products. Now, if you take a closer look at said divided products, you’ll notice that there’s a ridiculously large gap in price (China has got to be lying to the world about the worth of their money.) You may even think, “win!”
But then you’re likely to notice that everyone is buying the expensive, Japan version.

When I asked about this, I found out that there had been quite a number of problems with the Chinese imports from sickness to finding foreign objects inside of meat and fish. As disappointing as it was, I made a note of that and decided to stay away from them.

Of course, take no ko are not meat, and shouldn’t involve much danger. Since I couldn’t be spending ¥400 on something that would amount to little more than a one-time flavoring for my rice, I broke my little rule and went with the Chinese import.

After waiting a few days, I finally cooked the sucker up the same way I did last time, and set up to eat it with rice and gyoza. What I discovered was that completely unlike the first take no ko I made from our back yard, the store bought Chinese version was very sour, and neither the generous amounts of butter I used in cooking it, nor the soy sauce that I added left any mark on the take no ko. Trying not to be picky, I went ahead and tried to eat all of them, but started feeling sick half way through, and resumed my meal by picking around the bamboo sprouts. My disappointment must have been palpable as I shoveled the uneaten take no ko into the trashcan with my chopsticks.

It was a short two meal run, but I think my take no ko-eating career has met its end for now. Foiled again!
But I’m going to keep trying to cook different foods, and hopefully in the future I’ll get another chance to easily enjoy fresh take no ko during the spring time. . .