What Edible Wild Mushrooms Are There? A Detailed Guide to Harvest Time and Storage Methods
Wild mushrooms are wild edible mushrooms unique to Yunnan Province, growing at an altitude of 2000--4000 m, in terrain with complex landforms and a three-dimensional climate.So what edible wild mushrooms are there? When can you go to harvest them? How should they be stored?
What edible wild mushrooms are there?
1. Lion's mane mushroom
Growing environment: on rotting tree trunks, stumps or branches. Shape: spherical, diameter usually 6-10 cm, fruiting body white or slightly yellowish, aromatic, slightly bitter.
2. Pine mushroom, namely matsutake.
Growing environment: under pine forests, especially fond of growing under young pine forests just covered with branches and leaves, soil-grown. Two kinds are commonly seen. One has an egg-yellow cap and stem, with the cap round and curled under when young, and after maturing the umbrella cap spreads out and is concave in the middle, with split gills beneath; the other has an orange-yellow fruiting body, with the cap surface slightly grayish-blue, and its color is not as bright yellow as the former.
3. Oak mushroom, also called mung bean mushroom
Growing environment: under oak forests or mixed forests, soil-grown. The cap diameter reaches 6-12 cm; the upper surface of the cap is green, sometimes mung bean colored, flat or slightly concave, and the gills underneath are white, with a mushroom aroma; when old, both the stem and cap are mostly infested with maggots.
4. Chicken-claw mushroom, namely termite mushroom, also called coral fungus
Growing environment: under arrow bamboo and bamboo (dragon-head bamboo) forests, or under sparse oak forests and on barren slopes at forest edges, soil-grown. The fruiting body is coral-shaped, gray, 5-8 cm tall. It is a component of China's wild edible mushroom resources that cannot be ignored. Coral fungi have many varieties, with brilliant colors including red, yellow, white, and so on.
5. Morel
Morel is also called morel vegetable, delicious morel, and morel mushroom. Morel (Morchella), also known as straw-hat bamboo, is a precious edible and medicinal mushroom. Morel was discovered in 1818. Its structure is similar to that of cup fungi, with the upper part forming a wrinkled network, looking both like a honeycomb and like a sheep's stomach, hence the name.
6. Pine mushroom, also called cold mushroom
It grows in pine forests. In some areas, pine trees are also called fir trees, so there this mushroom is called pine mushroom. Pine mushroom is delicious, but it is solitary by nature and only exists in high-altitude mountainous areas.
7. Shiitake
Growing environment: mostly grows on fallen rotting oak trunks at an altitude of 800-2200 m, preferring to grow in clusters. The cap is brownish-yellow, sometimes with white cracks, commonly known as “flower mushroom”; the stem is dark yellow-white, with a relatively strong aroma.
8. Lacquer tree mushroom, also known as cockscomb fungus
Growing environment: often grows on lacquer trees or other rotting tree trunks or stumps. The fruiting body is flesh-red, deeply split and forming a double cockscomb shape, with no umbrella gills, and becoming woody when old.
9. Thatch mushroom
Growing environment: among thatch grass on barren slopes or beside piles of rotting weeds. The fruiting body is white and often grows in clusters.
10. Pine tricholoma, scientific name bolete, also called pine mushroom and peeling mushroom
Growing environment: under pine forests or mixed oak forests. The common bolete has a yellow fruiting body, a relatively thick cap, not concave on top, with a slippery oily substance, and no umbrella gills underneath but densely packed small pores. Bolete is rich in protein and also contains multiple vitamins, 16 amino acids, and 11 mineral elements.
When can wild mushrooms be harvested?
1. Growth periods differ by region: taking Kunming as an example, at Xiaoshao Wild Mushroom Ecological Tourism Village in Yiliang County, from mid-to-late June to mid-November each year, large amounts of wild mushrooms mature one after another, abundantly producing ganba fungus, boletes, green-headed mushrooms, termite mushrooms, grain-ripe mushrooms, and others. The most distinctive dishes are: wild mushroom banquet, cold-dressed ganba fungus, stir-fried boletes, and other delicacies.
2. Different mushrooms have different requirements for temperature, humidity, light, and oxygen. Some prefer high temperature, high humidity, light, and need oxygen; some prefer low temperature, low humidity, avoid light, and are anaerobic. This low temperature and low humidity are also relative terms.
3. The suitable temperature for most edible mushrooms is around 25 degrees. When fruiting bodies emerge, strong light is generally not needed; during mushroom emergence, light is needed but should not be too strong. Humidity and oxygen requirements also differ among different mushrooms and at different stages.
How should wild mushrooms be stored?
The growth cycle of wild mushrooms is concentrated from June to September, among which July and August are the peak growth period for wild mushrooms. Storing large amounts of wild mushrooms during these months when they are abundantly on the market is so that fresh wild mushrooms can still be eaten when wild mushrooms are out of season.
How to store wild mushrooms, the most commonly used methods are:
1. After buying the mushrooms, first wash them clean, drain the water, then stir-fry them in sesame oil until 80 percent cooked, divide into small bags, and then put them in the refrigerator to keep fresh; they can be kept for about one year.
2. Quick-freeze preservation: after washing the mushrooms clean and draining the water, freeze them in the freezer compartment of the refrigerator, and they can be preserved for one year. If jianshouqing is placed in plastic wrap and put in the refrigerator, it can be preserved for more than ten days.
3. Boil wild mushrooms in boiling water, and after cooling add supersaturated salt; this way they can also be preserved for about one year, but they must be desalted when eaten.