the.com/bamboo shoot

The vegetable that grows fast enough to watch, then spends its life trying to murder you with cyanide.

means The young, edible sprout of the bamboo plant, harvested before it hardens into cane, prized in Asian cooking once properly cooked to remove its natural toxins.

from 'Bamboo' entered English through Dutch/Portuguese traders (bambu), who picked it up from Malay 'bambu' or 'mambu', itself likely borrowed from a South Asian language — the exact root is tangled and disputed. 'Shoot' is just plain Old English, describing the young growth that shoots up from the ground, true to bamboo's reputation as one of the fastest-growing plants on Earth.

growth speed
up to 35 inches in 24 hours
raw danger
contains taxiphyllin, a cyanide-producing compound
fix
boiling neutralizes the toxin completely
panda math
giant pandas eat 20-40 lbs of shoots daily
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