A dumpling's best friend

What's up? Welcome back to the fridge. Life has been a little bit hectic lately and I have found it important to take a moment to breathe and to slow down a little. Yesterday after eating at least 15 Nutella dumplings (and giving myself a stomach ache) I had to lay down and that's when I started thinking about something we use almost every day.

Bamboo baskets or as I like to call them - a dumpling's best friend.

You know there is something so fascinating about bamboo. As I mentioned before in our previous episodes, I think that giving a 'why' is super important especially when it comes to why we do or use certain things.

I wanted to talk to you guys about our bamboo baskets and why we use them to steam our dumplings. Okay, I know it might not sound like the most interesting topic to read about but there's actually a lot that you might not know about bamboo itself.

For example, did you know that bamboo is actually stronger in structure than steel? Or that it is the fastest growing plant in the world - as in it can grow up to a meter in just 24 hours.

We at Madame Sum want to appreciate the culture from which the concept of our products come from. So here's a short rundown about the historical importance of them.

Bamboo baskets originate from the south of China circa 5000 years ago. That's at least 47.5 quadrillion dumplings away in light years. The baskets were used to steam veggies, meats, fish, but especially dried foods as they were easier to preserve. (no fridges or freezers at that time…)  They were also preferred during war times as the steam that it emitted was not as detectable for enemy troops as smoke was.

Okay… now it doesn't serve the same purpose but it does have a huge cultural role in many asiatic countries to steam dumplings, dim sums and fish among many other things.

We believe that everything should receive the love and care that it deserves and your bamboo basket is no different. You will need to clean your basket at one point, so let me give some tips:

1. Use a lemon. Super simple stuff, and it smells great. Lemons are basically all natural "Dettol" spray. It helps you remove stains and smells from your bamboo basket. Just cut one in half, (no… not your basket. Your lemon obviously) and rub it against your bamboo basket. No cloth needed, you only need to rinse it to get rid of residue and you're good as new.
2. Use a tea bag. Finally you don't have to throw away your tea bags. You've heard of using tea bags to get rid of dark circles around your eyes, now you can use them to clean your bamboo baskets! Have a cup of black tea, relax a bit and digest the dumplings you just ate. Now, soak your tea bag and do the same as you did with the lemon.

BOOM. Now just let it dry properly and done, you now know how to care for your little bamboo basket.

I could probably go on about bamboo baskets because I still have a couple of fun facts up my sleeve but let's keep that for another day. For now I think I'll go return this bamboo basket back to its respective spot but as a last question let me ask. If you could steam anything in a bamboo basket, what would you steam? Okay I'll catch you later!

Stay cool, stay steamy

Love,

Toby