BambooBamboo is a type of grass with a hard, woody, hollow stem.There are 1,500 different species of bamboo,occurring naturally in every continent except Europe and Antarctica.Bamboo is among the fastest growing plants on the planet.One Japanese species rockets skywards at a rate of a metre a day.Some bamboos can reach a lofty 35 metres in height while others are only half a metre tall.Bamboo is famous as the major food source of rare animals such as the giant panda and red panda.It is also economically important to humans as a building material and as food.Bamboo has a crisp texture and light, sweet flavor.It generally assumes the flavour of ingredients it is combined with,so bamboo shoots are often used as fillers in Asian cuisine.While some bamboo can be eaten raw,some varieties must be cooked to remove some toxic elements.
