街市THE WET MARKET
Bamboo sugarcane (thin green cane)
竹蔗
clears heatrelieves dryness清熱生津潤燥和中竹蔗茅根水為涼茶中較溫和之選，四季可飲
A thin, green-skinned variety of sugarcane sold in segments and split lengthways before boiling. It contributes a clean, grassy sweetness rather than syrupy sugar, the backbone of the mild cooler known as sugarcane and imperata root drink (竹蔗茅根水).
TCM properties
Nature · neutral Flavour · sweet Meridians · lung、stomach
Traditional food therapy
In Cantonese food therapy bamboo sugarcane is used to clear heat, generate fluids and moisten dryness, and the sugarcane-imperata drink is counted among the gentler traditional coolers, drunk in any season.
Cautions: read first
- High in sugar, so people with diabetes should take note
- Those who are weak and without heat signs should not drink it daily, and too much can bring on diarrhoea
- Take care if you run cold and deficient, are on your period, or are pregnant
Preparation
Wash and split into lengths.
Origin
Guangdong (the Pearl River Delta and the western Guangdong cane belt). Fresh or frozen segments at Australian Asian grocers
Availability in Australia
Easy to find
