Buluh Lemang - Schizotachyum brachycladum

Lemang is a traditional Malay food made of glutinous rice, coconut milk and salt, cooked in a hollowed lemang bamboo, lined with banana leaves.

The lemang bamboo ( buluh lemang ) ( Schizotachyum brachycladum ) is used for cooking lemang because of its unique properties :

1. Availabililty – Not Too Difficult To Find
The bamboo is evergreen plant native to tropical Asia, abundance all over lowland secondary forest.  It produces several new stems annually, each stems grow to their maximum heights in their first year of growth.  Propagation is common, usually by rhizome and clum cuttings.

It has been used in Borneo, Java, Bali, Malesia, Cochinchina, etc for construction, handicraft, container for water and cooking, etc.

2. Length – Not Too Long, Not Too Short

Buluh lemang’s clum are erect and straight, about 10-15m in length, 6-8cm in diameter. With approximately 7-10 hollow internodes, each 20-50cm in length, buluh lemang is suitable as a vessel for cooking.

3. Thickness – Not Too Thick

The bamboo’s internode wall is thin, about 3-5mm think, comparable to other species of bamboo.  The thin wall is easy to cut through, shortened the cooking time and uses less firewood.