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Guadua angustifolia is a bamboo species which grows in America.

Collecting guadua resprouting.

Guadua piece cutting.

Cooking process.

Guadua fiber popsicles.

Brad made of guadua flour.

The UNal-Medellín Guadua Research Group analyzed the content of fat, moisture, dietary fiber, minerals and proteins of guadua. 

Professor Eugenia González Castrillón claims the idea of this research project was to discover other possibilities for a product which often is linked to construction and not to food. 

The samples were taken at the guadua forests located on the campus of UNal-Medellín and the UNal Agricultural Production Center located in the municipality of Santa Fe de Antioquia in the Province of Antioquia. 

The results obtained showed that guadua has a high fiber content as well as starch and presence of minerals such as phosphorus, magnesium and potassium. 

“From these results we can infer that guadua is suitable for a diet regime as it has low amount of calories and is a mild laxative due to its high fiber and low fat content,” said González. 

Bread and popsicles 

After identifying the nutritional characteristics, the following step was to see if it was tasteful in different preparations.  The crop obtained from guadua resprouting was crushed and boiled. They manufactured popsicles with the resulting material guadua fiber, water and sugar. The popsicles had a pleasant acid flavor and a sugarcane-like aroma. 

To make bread, the fiber was dried in an oven to obtain guadua flour which replaced much of the traditional bread flour.

According to the results the moisture content of the bread is similar to potato and quinoa flours, also used as substitutes for wheat bread. This is an important factor for the stability of the product which will be used as raw material for the bread making industry. 

The nutritional characteristics of Guadua angustifolia are similar to the characteristics of Asian bamboos used in the food industry. Colombia holds second place in bamboo diversity in the Latin America having 9 genera and 70 species, 24 of which are considered endemic.