Fresh thunder bamboo shoots are being sorted and packaged in Sancun Zhufu Agricultural Development Company of Beihu District, Chenzhou City, and soon they will be transported to the markets in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai. 

 

The documentary “A Bite of China II” introduces thunder bamboo shoots to more Chinese people. They are so named because they appear after the spring thunder. There is a thunder bamboo shoot production base in Huatang Town, Beihu District.

 

After a period of rainfalls, the thunder bamboo shoot in Huatang Town entered the picking period. Because it breaks through the soil after the beginning of autumn, it’s called autumn bamboo shoots.

 

Different from previous years, this year’s autumn bamboo shoots came on the market one month earlier, which are welcomed by residents in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai.

 

The popularity of bamboo shoots in autumn stems from an accidental discovery. 

 

Three years ago, Cao Wenzhang, head of Sancun Zhufu Agricultural Development Company, found that after harvesting spring bamboo shoots, when doing normal land preparation, he accidentally found that after the rain in August, bamboo shoots successively emerged in the field, and the quality were good enough for sale. 

 

Cao Wenzhang was so surprised, and then through the scientific management of the company, the original planting base that only supplies spring and winter bamboo shoots can provide autumn bamboo shoots.

 

Cao Wenzhang introduced that Chenzhou has natural red soil, and the special soil can make the flesh of bamboo shoots whiter and tender, and the taste will also be more crispy and sweet.

 

“We lay a certain thickness of organic matter in the bamboo forest as a hatching bed, and then maintain the humidity of the bamboo forest at around 45%. This will quickly increase the swelling and sprouting of bamboo shoots to ensure a quantitative supply of autumn bamboo shoots,” said Cao Wenzhang.

 

The large production of autumn bamboo shoots has posed a sales challenge for Cao Wenzhang. He found that bamboo shoots are not only essential for home cooked dishes but also for banquet dishes in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai, with a high demand throughout the year. Besides, bamboo shoots are relatively in short supply in autumn. Thus, Cao Wenzhang found the target customers and opened up the markets in these three places. 

 

In recent years, Cao Wenzhang has created job opportunities for more than 200 households through the development model of “cooperatives plus farmers plus bases”. 

 

At present, the base can sell 600 tons of bamboo shoots annually, with a sales volume of about 29 million yuan. 

 

This year, the company was approved as a provincial leading enterprise. Next, Cao Wenzhang plans to increase technological investment and create a new digital base, so as to further improve and extend the bamboo shoot industry chain.