Wild mushroom season

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Yesterday I invited three (Chinese) dinner guests who are old friends and the four of us walked to the market to see what was fresh. Then we came back to my house and cooked it up. I have a decent kitchen and live close to an excellent wet market, so I often use that formula for easy entertaining. My guests seem to genuinely enjoy participating, plus I personally get the added benefit of learning some new shopping and cooking tricks that way.

 

The wild mushroom season has arrived big time in Kunming now, so we of course got some fine, healthy looking 牛肝菌。They are going for between 10 and 15 Yuan per liang 两 depending on your bargaining skills.（一两 = 50 克 = fifty grams.）

 

One of my guests is from a mountainous part of Yunnan and was real familiar with wild mushrooms, thus confident both in their selection and preparation. He was "trained by mom" at a young age, so he became the "project leader" on the mushrooms. We used lots of garlic 大蒜, mostly whole cloves and halves. We added a generous handful of the smaller, crinkly 青椒, coarsely chopped along with their seeds. We "souchefs" handled that part of the prep, while he cleaned and sliced the mushrooms very thin with a recently sharpened 菜刀 knife.

 

Then he sautéed them a long time in a big wok, being careful not to overload the wok and keeping the temperature medium high. He used plenty of oil (too much oil, I thought, but he insisted it was essential.) Turned out real tasty. We obviously had other dishes as well, but the “star” of the meal was the wild mushrooms.

 

Today I phoned one of my local (Kunming) TCM friends, and in the course of our chat, I told her we had eaten delicious wild mushrooms last night. She proceeded to regale me with several stories of mushroom experiences “gone wrong.” She spent a couple days in the hospital three or four years ago getting over severe stomach cramps and wild visual hallucinations. It appears there is some genuine risk, even if one is careful.

 

If you are in Kunming during late spring and early summer, you can find them at most "family style" restaurants catering to locals. They tend to be expensive, and one plate of them in a restaurant will often cost 75 or 80 Yuan. Kunming also has a couple hot pot 火锅 places specializing in them.

Anyone else had China mushroom experiences?

 

[skylee]

Thanks for sharing.

It seems that people might be able to make a good profit out of those mushrooms that create wild visual hallucinations. But then in Yunnan there should be other plants that can do that.

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But then in Yunnan there should be other plants that can do that.

 

Ha ha! Yes, I've heard there are.

 

Actually, every day the Yunnan evening TV news devotes a segment to covering unsuccessful attempts at smuggling drugs across the border, mostly from Burma, including ruses such as hollowed-out jade rocks.

[Shelley]

Here in the uk mushrooms are picked wild, but i wouldn't eat anything picked from the wild. Even by a so called "expert" it's just too easy to make a mistake.

I maybe being over cautious but as far i am concerned its just not worth it.

I always admire the bravery of people who do eat them

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I always worry a bit about getting bad mushrooms, since I realize it can happen even to savvy and experienced natives. What I've worked out as a compromise is to always buy the same kind, since by now I have a pretty good idea of what they should look like. I always buy them from one or another of two vendors. Those two vendors are both old timers and they only sell a few small straw baskets of them on any given day. I'm hoping that they can serve as a secondary source of verification (not leaving me to rely entirely on the pickers in the hills.) Then I usually eat them with some friends instead of eating them alone. We ask each other, "Do they taste OK to you?"

Not foolproof, I realize, but I sure do enjoy the seasonal treat they provide when very fresh. It would probably be a game changer if I did have the misfortune to get real sick from them.

[rob07]

There was a tragic case in my hometown earlier this year where the chef and a kitchen hand at a Chinese restaurant died after eating death cap mushrooms. Canberra is notorious for growing death cap mushrooms that look exactly like the good kind but contain enough poison in a single mushroom to kill an adult human. They taste wonderful, apparently. Another Chinese woman in Australia died earlier this month from death cap mushrooms.

http://www.canberrat...d=1330927127065

http://www.canberrat...0608-201s8.html

Not trying to be alarmist. I understand that this kind of death cap mushroom does not exist in China and that is a large part of the reason why the last three Australian mushroom deaths I have heard of have been Chinese people. I'm sure that in Yunnan, even if an experienced native cannot always be 100% sure they are picking the right kind of mushroom, they can still be 100% sure that they are not risking their lives. But be careful. Like most people who grew up where I did, I was trained by mum from a young age to be paranoid about wild mushrooms.

But then in Yunnan there should be other plants that can do that

I remember in the little shops along the Tiger Leaping Gorge track, they sold "Naxi Sunrise" in the same way that they sold bottled tea and potato crisps. I've been other places where dealers will just walk up to you in the middle of the street and blatantly offer you drugs, but that's not the same as being able to buy drugs on display at an actual shop that sells normal groceries as well.

[WestTexas]

In Texas there is this wild mushroom that grows near cow patties. It has a golden center on the cap with whiteness around the edges. The gills are dark grey. After you pick it, it stains blue. I believe the scientific name is psilocybe cubensis. Makes you feel funny when you eat it...

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#6 -- Those Australia cases are truly worrisome. I may need to rethink this wild mushroom business. Hate to give them up, but on the other hand, don't want to be reckless.

[liuzhou]

Kunming also has a couple hot pot 火锅 places specializing in them.

Not only Kunming. They are all over the place. I know three here in Liuzhou, Guangxi and I've been in one in Beijing and another in Shanghai.

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#9 -- That's good to know. Kunming doubtless has more such places than I know about. Need to seek them out. I may decide to stick to ordering wild mushrooms in restaurants in order to add one additional layer of safety to the equation. Realize that still does not make it bulletproof, as proven by the Canberra incidents cited above.

[rob07]

Just noticed this:

Yunnan Sudden Death Syndrome

For the last few decades, several people in rural Yunnan would mysteriously drop dead in the mushroom season every year. In 2010 the cause of death was discovered to be a particular mushroom that locals did not realise was poisonous.

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#11 -- Waaa! I was totally unaware of that. This wild mushroom business is sounding more and more hazardous.

[rob07]

Well, mushrooms are a major export for Yunnan, so if they are picked by people who know what they are doing, there should be no problem. The issue with the Yunnan Sudden Death Syndrome was that they were not commercial mushrooms so no expert had considered what was in them and the issue with the Canberra cases was that the people weren't locals. I guess the trick is finding a way to be sure that they are picked by people who know what they are doing. Sorry to state the obvious, but I felt I should just acknowledge that the cases in my earlier posts were isolated horror stories and mushrooms are obviously enjoyed by millions of people worldwide. I am just a bit paranoid about mushrooms because of where I grew up.

[liuzhou]

I like the system in France where most towns and villages have a registered, qualified mycologist (often based in a pharmacy) for the express purpose of identifying your fungal pickings and advising you on whether to eat them yourself or serve to your enemies.

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I guess the trick is finding a way to be sure that they are picked by people who know what they are doing.

Well said. I'm going to talk to a few Kunming old timers and see what strategy they recommend for a relative newcomer such as myself who enjoys this local treat, but wants to minimize the risk involved. There may be something obvious that I'm overlooking.

Went back to the market this afternoon to buy some other things, and there are even more mushroom vendors than before. Makes me want to learn more about them.

[Matty]

Sorry to state the obvious' date=' but I felt I should just acknowledge that the cases in my earlier posts were isolated horror stories and mushrooms are obviously enjoyed by millions of people worldwide. I am just a bit paranoid about mushrooms because of where I grew up.[/quote']

I can relate, back in Australia.

If it crawls, it can probably kill you.

If it slithers it can probably kill you.

If it grows, eating may kill you.

If it is grey and fury, it's probably a drop bear and will... drop

Ok, it may not be that bad, but even now in safe China when I see something crawl in the corner of my eye, I jump and get ready to kill or run.

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Mushroom update --

 

Though it's far from a comprehensive solution, what I've decided to do for the time being is to become a "specialist" in one kind of local wild mushroom. Since first posting last week, I've gone to the market near where I live a couple times with a good Kunming friend and her mother. The mother is 老昆明 and can talk dialect with the sellers when needed.

 

We only look at niu gan jun 牛肝菌, which scientifically is Boletus Edulis. In English it is usually called "porcini" or "cepe" though it has other names in other languages as well. It is common here, so pickers and sellers are very familiar with it. More importantly, unlike some other wild mushrooms, it does not have any notorious "look-alikes" that are poisonous. It's one that can be identified in the field without having to use specialized tools or methods.

 

We check for wormholes in the stem and we check for the gills being intact and not soft or mushy. The latter is a sign of freshness. We try to choose ones that are not too old and "woody." We check for color variations.

 

There are a couple of common 牛肝菌 variants on sale here, one more yellow in color and one more dark brownish-black. Some vendors don't want you to pick them up, but if you do it carefully by the stem it doesn't bruise the cap and that is usually permissible. If they won't let me handle each mushroom (with care) then I don't buy there, and just move on.

 

We also by now have gotten a pretty good idea of what price range is appropriate. Currently, it fluctuates between about 10 and 15 Yuan per liang 两 depending on time of day and bargaining skill. The mushroom sellers use "liang" to mean 50 grams 五十克。It's their spoken abbreviation for 市两 shiliang. It can be confusing because some produce is sold by the 公两, which is 100 grams. They don't sell fresh mushrooms retail by the jin 斤 500 grams or by the 公斤 kilo。

 

I know how to cook these porcini/niu gan jun by now in simple, tasty ways that are not much trouble. They aren't cheap, but a large dish suitable for two can be made from 20 or 25 Yuan worth of mushrooms, whereas in a restaurant a similar dish might cost as much as 75 or 80.

 

As time goes by, I may also try to learn a second variety to buy and cook. Decided to take it a step at a time.

 

Have learned that Kunming has a Wild Mushroom Institute, and hope to get out there next week for a look around. They will help you identify specimens you have picked yourself in the mountains and they have an attached dining room where chefs will cook up your finds for you after they are verified by staff mycologists.

 

Life here continues to be a pleasant adventure.

[skylee]

Is 斤 a pound? I have never seen it described as pound, which should be 磅. I think a 市斤 is 500 grams /half kilo, and that is more than a pound.

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Is 斤 a pound? I have never seen it described as pound, which should be 磅. I think a 市斤 is 500 grams /half kilo, and that is more than a pound.

You are right. That was sloppy of me. I still think in pounds, being from the US. Will go back and edit the post. Thanks.

[Matty]

Mushrooms, the safe one's aren't safe.

Well, it seems according to my friend who is a medical researcher and my less than excellent Chinese:

Mushrooms are amazingat absorbing and are rich in heavy metals that the body can not consume.

My friend has now told me that I'm no longer allowed to even eat a little.

Definately some mushrooms for thought. Or food for thought or something.

Oh, I asked what if I grew them myself, the answer was the same.