Collagen Boosting Bamboo | Food as Skincare
Alice Sun (@alicecsun) shares a unique view into her life through the ways she uses food to nurture wellness, cross cultural divides, and bring people together, all through the medium of storytelling.
There are SO many plant based collagen sources and this one happens to be one of the most delicious and in season!
Meet the humble bamboo — an incredible sustainable source of food, in season between spring and late summer, and filled with silica, a mineral that’s crucial for the production of collagen.
Here’s how to make it ⬇️ Serves 1-2:
Ingredients:
1 bamboo sprout or 3-4 thin bamboo shoots
1 tbsp mirin
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp sugar or honey
1/4 cup water
Soba noodles (optional)
Soba dashi:
1 tbsp dashi concentrate
3/4 cup water
Scallions for garnish
Instructions:
Start by peeling off the tough exterior skin of the bamboo until you hit the softer pale yellow interior
Cut into bite sized pieces then blanch in boiling water for 3-4 mins; otherwise the bamboo will be numbing to the mouth
In a separate pot, combine the mirin, soy sauce, sugar, and water and bring to a boil
Add the boiled bamboo sprouts in and let it simmer, for about 15 mins until the sauce becomes syrupy
For the soba, cook the noodles according to package instructions, and make the soba dipping sauce using a broth concentrate
Add some scallions to the dipping sauce and enjoy the noodles with the bamboo