竹蔗凉水 SugarCane Herbal Tea

竹蔗 ( literally means bamboo cane.  竹 = bamboo, 蔗 = sugarcane ) is a kind of sugarcane, dark purple in colour, at 1-2cm diameter, it is skinnier than the normal sugarcane ( Saccharum officinarum ). It is also less juicy, and less sweet.  Very much favoured by the Chinese community as the main ingredient of infamous sugarcane herbal tea.

I supposed bamboo cane should be Saccharum sinense, but can’t be 100% sure.  It is also known as Chinese cane.

Fresh Chinese bamboo can be bought in most Asian fresh market.  Dried ones find their ways to hypermarkets and sundry stores pre=packed.

before cleaning ......                                                                 after cleaning ......

If you have fresh Chinese cane, it is vital to clean it off any debris, dirt, buds and dried leaves.  Scratch it, scrub it, rub it, wash it.  Then, cut it into about 10cm long ( for them to able to fit into my pot, of course ), chopped them into 2 - 4 vertically.

Simmer them in a huge pot of water with big chunk of chopped carrot, till the water turns yellowish and smells of sweet sugarcane aroma.  Ironically, add in a bit of sugar to sweetened it up.  Serve hot or chilled.  Discard off the sugarcane lol .

Minus all the hassle of cleaning and chopping, one can always head to any grocery stores or hypermarkets to have pre-packed dried Chinese cane.  Those dried packs are mostly produce of China, often have other herbs added to it : arrowroot, carrot, and Imperatae root.