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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!

The highly favoured (松茸 Chinese: sōng róng; Japanese: 松茸 or マツタケ) 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!

The highly favoured 松茸 (Chinese: sōng róng; Japanese: 松茸 or マツタケ) 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!