Mushrooms and Fungi in China

[dcarch]

China seems to be the only country which succeeded in large scale morel farming.

 

dcarch

Edited February 13, 2019 by dcarch (log)

[liuzhou]

11 hours ago, TicTac said:

If you are able, find out whether they are farmed (which I have yet to see) or foraged.

 

They are foraged.

Edited February 14, 2019 by liuzhou (log)

[liuzhou]

13 hours ago, KennethT said:

@TicTac and @liuzhou Wow!  That is crazy cheap... around here they're about $50/pound!

 

This morning I went back and interrogated my mushroom lady. The morels are 88元 / 500 grams, which is $13 USD.

If my mathematics is correct that is $11.81 per pound.

I did buy some more.

[liuzhou]

5 hours ago, dcarch said:

China seems to be the only country which succeeded in large scale morel farming.

 

dcarch

 

 

While China has made some process in morel farming, it is still far from "large scale".

 

I posted the same picture on Chinese social media yesterday and no one had ever seen them before or knew what they were. I had to go back and tell them the Chinese name.

[KennethT]

Do they come a particular region? I wonder if they come from Yunnan, somewhere else or all over...

[liuzhou]

3 minutes ago, KennethT said:

Do they come a particular region? I wonder if they come from Yunnan, somewhere else or all over...

 

She told me these came from the mountains just to  the north of the city here in Guangxi. Yunnan has them too, though. As does Hunan. Probably other places.

[dcarch]

10 minutes ago, liuzhou said:

 

While China has made some process in morel farming, it is still far from "large scale".

 

I posted the same picture on Chinese social media yesterday and no one had ever seen them before or knew what they were. I had to go back and tell them the Chinese name.

 

Saw these on youtube.

 

dcarch

 

 

 

 

[liuzhou]

Interesting, but still tiny in comparison with other mushroom cultivation in China. There are mushroom farms the size of cities.

[dcarch]

2 minutes ago, liuzhou said:

Interesting, but still tiny in comparison with other mushroom cultivation in China. There are mushroom farms the size of cities.

 

Soon $5.00 a lb white truffles?  

 

dcarch

[Thanks for the Crepes]

On 2/13/2019 at 10:50 PM, dcarch said:

 

Soon $5.00 a lb white truffles?  

 

dcarch

 

Yea! I hope it happens, but still think it is unlikely. 

 

As @liuzhou said, this is on a small scale. Do you actually think that the small production of this fungi will be enough to escape the local consumption market? 

 

I would love it, but in reality, it ain't gonna happen.

 

In order to have things exported, a country needs to have an excess of stuff that's desirable in other countries.

 

It's a nice dream. That is all.

[liuzhou]

On 2/15/2019 at 6:24 PM, Thanks for the Crepes said:

It's a nice dream. That is all. 

 

Given that China has flooded the French market with highly inferior black truffles, I'd say the whole idea is a nightmare.

We'll see unicorn steaks first.

 

Edited February 16, 2019 by liuzhou (log)

[liuzhou]

A while back, I mentioned these rare hongzhui mushrooms – 红椎菌 (hóng zhuī jùn).

 

Today, a festival celebrating their harvest took place in my friend Vera's (李美) hometown. She has sent me these pictures of a giant soup pot, featuring chicken and red mushroom soup. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to attend.

 

 

 

Edited October 5 by liuzhou (log)

[Shelby]

THAT is a bowl of soup

[demiglace]

3 minutes ago, Shelby said:

THAT is a bowl of soup

Wait til you see the size of the spoon!

[liuzhou]

灰树花 (huī shù huā), maitake ( Japanese: 舞茸  or マイタケ), hen-of-the-woods, ram's head or sheep's head, Grifola frondosa. Whatever you call them, they turned up in dried form in one of my stores, yesterday.

 

 

and after rehydration

 

 

[liuzhou]

I bought these last autumn but never posted this picture here as I couldn't identify the ones on the left. Today I finally managed.

 

 

They are 黑皮鸡枞菌 (hēi pí jī cōng jūn), 'black skin chicken fir mushroom', Oudemansiella raphanipes.  Cultivated from Yunnan Province.

 

 

They are pleasant enough but very mild in taste, compared to the morels.

 

Edited March 20, 2023 by liuzhou (log)

[liuzhou]

... and today in the market for the first time, fresh, wild 虎松茸 (hǔ sōng róng), tiger matsutake. Foraged in neighbouring Yunnan Province.

 

[liuzhou]

Today's haul foraged from my farmers market. 姬松茸 (jī sōng róng), Agaricus subrufescens. Known in English as Almond Mushroom. In Japanese, they are himematsutake.

 

 

Edited August 28 by liuzhou (log)

[liuzhou]

Another find today.

 

鹿茸菇 (lù róng gū) - Lyophyllum Decastes or Pilose Antler Mushroom, also called Velvet Mushroom, but that name also applies to other species.

 

 

 

Note: The species is edible when cooked. When consumed uncooked may cause liver failure, nausea, and diarrhea.

 

 

Edited November 4, 2020 by liuzhou (log)

[liuzhou]

I mentioned 黄金菇 (huáng jīn gū) - Yellow Oyster Mushrooms before but had only seen them dried. Today found them fresh.

 

 

Edited October 5 by liuzhou (log)

[liuzhou]

More than once in this topic, I was asked about Chinese truffles and warned people off them. They are a pale imitation of the European truffles. I'd only had them once, in a restaurant here in town and was, to say the least, underwhelmed.

 

Yesterday, I saw some and decided to give them a full test.

These are from Yunnan province which borders Myanmar/Burma, Laos and Vietnam and Tibet and they are between 5 and 7  cm / 2 to 2¾ inches in diameter and were the largest.

 

Almost scentless and flavour-free. So my advice remains the same. Avoid.

 

Edited April 16, 2023 by liuzhou (log)

[liuzhou]

The highly favoured (松茸 Chinese: sōng róng; Japanese: 松茸 or まつたけ) matsutake mushrooms, literally 'pine mushrooms' in both Japanese and Chinese, Tricholoma matsutake, beloved by the Japanese, do grow in parts of China, particularly in the southern provinces of Yunnan and neighbouring Tibet. The name comes from them mainly being found in pine forests.

 

The Oxford Companion to Food quotes this amusing little anecdote.

 

Quote

There is a certain ribaldry about young men and women going hunting for matsutake, since it is quite phallic in shape, and the chances of getting lost in the woods of red pine where it grows are quite high.

 

(Hosking (1996)

 

The prize specimens are shipped off to Japan where they fetch silly money, but we are left with some of the second grade. They are still fine and are still not exactly cheap.

 

They tend not to appear in the markets or even supermarkets, but are available on line.

 

 

Obviously the fresh mushrooms are best, but they are also sold dried. Not recommended.

Dried Matsutake

 

We also get these so-called 'tiger matsutake', also from Yunnan, but I've never been able to find any further information on them. The only image on Google that I can see is mine!

 

 

Edited May 1, 2023 by liuzhou (log)

[SusieQ]

If you want to come to the Northwest and go find your own, here's a good place to start:

"Located south of Olympic National Park along the West Coast, Grays Harbor County grows some of the most desirable mushrooms in the world. As you explore, keep your eyes peeled for boletes, morels, hedgehogs, oysters, chicken of the woods, matsutake and chanterelles." 
https://www.wainnsiders.com/guide-to-mushroom-foraging-in-washington-state/#:~:text=Located south of Olympic National,the woods%2C matsutake and chanterelles.
 

[liuzhou]

On 4/7/2023 at 3:02 PM, SusieQ said:

If you want to come to the Northwest and go find your own, here's a good place to start:

 

American matsutake are a different, but related species, Tricholoma ponderosum, Tricholoma murrillianum or Tricholoma Magnivelare.  The scent is similar, but less potent (according to reports). The taste is also less intense.

 

 

Edited October 23 by liuzhou (log)

[liuzhou]

Recently found a reliable source for these.

 

 

黑牛肝菌 (hēi niú gān jūn) - Black Boletes (Phlebopus portentosus, Tylopilus alboater or Boletus aereu. One of the few boletes that can be cultivated. Inedible when raw, but cooked have a rich unami taste and a nutty flavour.

Me likes.

 

Edited May 4, 2023 by liuzhou
typo (log)