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Mushrooms and Fungi in China

liuzhou

By liuzhou
in China: Cooking & Baking

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liuzhou

liuzhou

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These mushrooms resemble ... "Honey fungus" (Armillaria).

 

Yes they are closely related to Honey Mushrooms Armillaria melea. But these are Armillaria tabescens. I merely translated the Chinese literally.

 

 

Edited by liuzhou (log)

...your dancing child with his Chinese suit.

 

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hobo

hobo

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I opened few jars with these my marinated mushrooms recently and tasted them. The stems of little mushrooms are soft and good but the stems of big ones are a bit "woody". But the caps are very good of all of them.

 

The recipe was:

1. Put cleaned mushrooms in a casserole and add water.

2. Boil them for 20 min. and then discard the water.

3. Put in a casserole with mushrooms a new water and boil again for 20 min. Also you need to add (for each 1 liter of water) 2 table spoons of salt and 1 or 2 table spoons of 6% vinegar.

4. After that put the mushrooms into clean jars and pasterize (with adding to each jar 1 leaf of laurel and few grains of smelly peper).

5. After pasterizing put the jars up the bottom on the towel and keep in this position for few hours - if marinate will begin to leak out of the jar you will easily notice that.

6. After that put in a dark cool place. After 60 days they are ready for eating.

 

armillaria-mellea-mushrooms-marinated.jp

 

 

armillaria-mellea-mushrooms-marinated-2.

 

 

 

Yes they are closely related to Honey Mushrooms, if not the same thing. I merely translated the Chinese literally.

I heared somethere that these (my) mushrooms could be called also tianma mihuanjun (gastrodia honey mushroom; mihuan means honey). I am not sure, of course, because I do not speak Chinese.

 

 

 

The stock is now in the freezer till I think what to do with it.

I personally drink all the "juice" which was left in a jar from my marinated mushrooms.

 

I  was interested about these mushrooms because I also heared that they promote cerebral blood flow. One person even said me that I don't needed to discard the first water when making marinated honey mushrooms "because you will waste out the best part of them". So the "juice" could be good also.  :)

Edited by hobo (log)
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liuzhou

liuzhou

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Today I came across fresh Cordycep Militaris for the first time. I've mentioned the dried ones upthread.

 

cmf.jpg

 

No doubt, they will turn up in the Dinner thread very soon.

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liuzhou

liuzhou

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Today, my mushroom emporium had something I haven't seen there before.

 

They were labelled "紫蘑菇" (zǐ mó gū) which literally translates as "purple mushrooms". Further investigation reveals them to be  "bruising webcaps" (Cortinarius purpurascens) generally described as an edible mushroom of medium quality, although Rogers, which I usually trust, describes them as "poisonous - suspect".

 

pm1.jpg

Dried Purple Mushrooms

 

The dried specimens have a strong mushroom scent which fades somewhat on re-hydration. Re-hydrated mushrooms are rather slimy or sticky. I can see them being good in a soup or mixed stew/hotpot, but not in an omelette. I shall report back. If I survive.

 

pm2.jpg

Re-hydrated Purple Mushrooms

 

 

Edited by liuzhou
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liuzhou

liuzhou

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Bumping this because I came across some wonderful fresh silver ear fungus in a supermarket today.

 

yiner.jpg

 

I'm glad to see that the locals are as confused as everyone else by the nomenclature. The typed information gives (correctly) the name as 银耳 (yín ěr) or "silver ear". The hand written sign incorrectly calls them 云耳 (yún ěr) or "cloud ear" which are unrelated and a different colour. See above.

 

yiner2.jpg

 

It is about 15cm/ 6 inches in diameter and weighs 190 grams / 6.7 ounces.

 

I'll be having this later in a soup, I think.

 

(4.50元/朵 = USD $0.67; €0.61; £0.51/head)

 

 

Edited by liuzhou
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liuzhou

liuzhou

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1 hour ago, SusieQ said:

It's beautiful. Looks like it would have a delicate taste. 

 

In fact, it has no taste. It is one of those things which are prized in China for texture rather than taste. The soup I plan to cook it in will have to be well flavoured - probably with Jinhua or Xuanwei ham, along with other aromatics, to provide a context for the crisp, but jelly-ish texture of the fungus.

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SusieQ

SusieQ

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On 7/27/2016 at 1:37 AM, liuzhou said:

 

In fact, it has no taste. It is one of those things which are prized in China for texture rather than taste. 


Aha! I remember reading about this concept in Fuschia Dunlop's book and thinking, oh, that's why I get these unchewable unknowns in Chinese soups! It's a concept lost on me, I'm afraid. My teeth have never been that strong. LOL

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Wild_Yeast

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@liuzhou are there two types of the silver ear mushroom? We use it all the time for soups and dessert. Sometimes after simmering for a couple of hours it softens real good like it's supposed to, and thickens the soup properly, but sometimes there's a batch(I don't get the same brand all the time) that even after two hours of simmering, it stays pretty crunchy and since it doesn't "melt" so the soup stays watery. 

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liuzhou

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2 minutes ago, Wild_Yeast said:

@liuzhou are there two types of the silver ear mushroom? We use it all the time for soups and dessert. Sometimes after simmering for a couple of hours it softens real good like it's supposed to, and thickens the soup properly, but sometimes there's a batch(I don't get the same brand all the time) that even after two hours of simmering, it stays pretty crunchy and since it doesn't "melt" so the soup stays watery. 

 

I don't think there are two types - other than fresh and dried. There may be two types of dried - recently dried or dried last century!

Do you mean you are using fresh or dried?

 

...your dancing child with his Chinese suit.

 

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Wild_Yeast

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Hahahaha these are definitely dry, I don't think I've ever seen the fresh variety here in the US. I've only had the crunchy batch twice. I didn't mind it for savory soups and stir fry, but it doesn't quite work for the dessert. 

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liuzhou

liuzhou

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24 minutes ago, Wild_Yeast said:

Hahahaha these are definitely dry, I don't think I've ever seen the fresh variety here in the US. I've only had the crunchy batch twice. I didn't mind it for savory soups and stir fry, but it doesn't quite work for the dessert. 

 

 

OK. I've never come across the melting one. Every time I've cooked with it, it has remained somewhat crunchy. Same when I've come across it in restaurants.

That said I've never had in desserts. I don't really go there. How long are you cooking it for so that it melts?

Edited by liuzhou (log)

...your dancing child with his Chinese suit.

 

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Wild_Yeast

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When I make the silver ear with wolfberries and rock sugar dessert I simmer it for 2-4 hrs in the crockpot, high for the first hour then low for the remainder of the time. The consistency turns gelatinous but still holds some shape. The idea is to mimick birds nest with the snow fungus since the former is so expensive and the latter is significantly cheap, yet the collagen filling, anti-aging and skin plumping properties are said to be the same.... And why harm the swiftlets? when you can get it from mushrooms :) 

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liuzhou

liuzhou

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Way back when, in this post, I mentioned the dried version of these. A couple of days ago, the fresh ones turned up in one of the local supermarkets.

 

1060936740_LionsHeadMushroom.thumb.jpg.9f732986e9529854dedb54fc08c6ba9c.jpg

 

Hericium erinaceus

 

狮头菇 (shī tóu gū), 'lion head mushroom' or 猴头菇 (hóu tóu gū), 'monkey head mushroom' in Chinese.

 

In English, lion's mane mushroom, monkey head mushroom, bearded tooth mushroom, satyr's beard, bearded hedgehog mushroom, pom pom mushroom, or bearded tooth fungus.

 

Edited by liuzhou (log)
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liuzhou

liuzhou

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For the first time ever in China, I found these in my local market this morning.

 

morels.thumb.jpg.064cd12538a3a341cbdb13edd71ab243.jpg

 

I knew they grew here, but had never been able to find them.

Morchella esculenta.

 

Morels.

 

In Mandarin, 羊肚菌 (yáng dù jùn) , literally sheep's stomach mushroom.

 

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Anna N

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4 hours ago, liuzhou said:

In Mandarin, 羊肚菌 (yáng dù jùn) , literally sheep's stomach mushroom.

Messes a bit with the glamour of the thing. 

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liuzhou

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54 minutes ago, Anna N said:

Messes a bit with the glamour of the thing. 

 

I know what you mean, but it retains its glamour in Chinese thinking.

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liuzhou

liuzhou

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6 minutes ago, TicTac said:

@liuzhou - Curious as to what Morels go for in China....?

 

I didn't weigh them, but those you see plus maybe 4 or 5 more out of shot cost me 18.50元 this morning. That's $2.73 USD.

 

I'll see if she has them again tomorrow and find out for sure.

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TicTac

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That's unreal.

 

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

 

If I could purchase Morel's for that price, oh the possibilities....

 

For Context - Fresh Morels here will retail between $30-$60CDN/lb

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