In China, I ate a plant called "Gao bai." Can some one please translate it into English?

It literally means "tall white (plant?)" My mom says it it grown in paddies like rice. The part my mom cooks with is like a bamboo shoot. You can dry the leaves and stuff your pillow with it as it gives off a pleasant aroma.|||Wild Rice Shoots


Other Languages:


China: gau sun, gao bai shun


Japan: makomo-zuno


Malaysia: rebong ayer


Thailand: normai-nam





Zizania aquatica or Z. palustris





Wild rice is an aquatic grass. Its seeds or grains are slender, long and black but should not be confused with the black glutinous rice used in Asia. Although related to Oryza, it is not, as some may misconstrue, a variety of rice, but quite a separate species that grows wild in the shallows of a few North American lakes. Traditionally harvested by native American Chippewa in canoes - it was fought over by Sioux and Chippewas - it is now grown commercially in eastern and central North America in irrigated fields.





Though wild rice grows in Japan, China and Taiwan, it is cultivated as a vegetable rather than as a grain crop. The rice shoot is harvested when attacked by a fungus that swells the shoots and, in advanced stages, causes black dots (spores) in the centre. It is best eaten before the spores are visible.





Purchasing and preparation: The shoots are from 25-35 cm (10-15 in) in length, tapering to a leafy tip from a base about 2.5 cm (1 in) in diameter. Select firm shoots with broad white bases. Only the solid pith of the stem is eaten, so the greater its diameter, the more edible portion there will be in the stalk.





Discard leaves on the outside and diagonally slice the inner white shoot. The shoot is then stir-fried with other ingredients. Because these shoots have very little flavour, they are usually cooked with shreds of pork, chicken or beef and absorb flavours from the other ingredients. Canned winter bamboo shoot may be substituted.





Medicinal uses: Considered to be cooling in effect.