What are the premium local mushrooms? A detailed introduction to 10 species
Eastern Fujian lies in the northeast of Fujian, backed by mountains and facing the sea, with a typical mid-subtropical maritime monsoon climate. With abundant rainfall and complex, diverse topography and landforms, it is extremely suitable for the growth of various wild mushrooms, and its fungal resources are quite rich. Here we introduce 10 species of premium mushrooms with relatively high economic value.
1. Boletus edulis (porcini) is an extremely delicious wild mushroom that is being domesticated. Its exports reach countries in Europe and America, and it is especially favored by the French and Italians. This mushroom has a thick, fleshy body and is commonly known as the big-foot mushroom. In rainy seasons in spring and autumn each year it grows under broadleaf forest, forming mycorrhizae. Artificial cultivation is very difficult, and current production relies on collecting wild resources, so efforts should be organized to tackle and develop it. It is most abundant in Pingnan County and Fu'an City of Ningde City. At present, artificial domestication mainly relies on artificial promotion techniques.
2. Morel (Morchella) is recognized worldwide as one of the most famous edible mushrooms. It is an edible mushroom under domestication, and because of its unique aroma and richness in organic germanium, it has the effects of preventing cancer, fighting cancer, and enhancing human immunity. The product sells well on the international market. In our city, Pingnan has a large distribution area. This mushroom has a conical body with folds resembling a sheep's stomach, and is light brown. Because rural people in our city (including many places in Fujian Province) do not yet recognize it, no one eats it.
3. Lactarius deliciosus (saffron milk cap) is commonly known by the people as pine mushroom or thunder-struck mushroom. From summer to late autumn each year it grows on the ground of Masson pine forest and is an ectomycorrhiza of Masson pine. It is a delicious edible mushroom. The cap is 4 to 10 cm wide, flattened hemispherical, with a navel-like depression in the center. Artificial cultivation is very difficult; cultivation materials can include pine sawdust, cottonseed hulls, corn cobs, wheat bran, and so on. The production cycle is 1 year, and the biological conversion rate is low.
4. Termitomyces (termite mushroom), commonly known as chicken-shred mushroom or termite mushroom, is an edible mushroom cultivated by white ants, and it is distributed in all counties of our city. It is a famous wild mushroom in China. The cap is conical at first, like a bamboo hat, and after spreading out, the central part has a prominent nipple-like protrusion, with a diameter of 3 to 25 cm. From late spring to autumn each year (September to October) it grows in soil at forest edges, roadsides, barren slopes, graveyards, and so on, and the root-like base at the bottom must be connected to a termite nest. Termitomyces is very difficult to domesticate and cultivate. It has been reported that under artificial culture conditions without termite nests, Termitomyces clypeatus has already produced fruiting bodies, and the cultivation substrate uses mixed sawdust, bran, sucrose, gypsum, and termite nests, etc.
5. Russula vinosa (red russula), commonly known as true red mushroom, genuine red mushroom, or vermilion mushroom, has a hemispherical cap that gradually flattens and becomes slightly depressed in the center, with a diameter of 4 to 14 cm, and is bright red or carmine. From summer to autumn it grows in woodland with Castanopsis carlesii or Castanopsis trees, forming ectomycorrhizae. It is a delicious edible mushroom and is also used medicinally. Artificial cultivation has not yet succeeded.
6. Cantharellus cibarius (golden chanterelle) is one of the most famous wild mushrooms in the world. Because it has an apricot aroma, it is also called apricot mushroom. The fruiting body is fleshy, egg-yellow, trumpet-shaped or irregularly round, 3 to 9 cm tall. In the mountainous areas of our city, in rainy seasons in spring and autumn, it grows on the ground at the edges of mixed woods. It is an ectomycorrhizal fungus and cannot yet be artificially cultivated. This mushroom is not only delicious and nutritious, but also has anticancer activity and a certain inhibitory effect on cancer cells.
7. Tremella fuciformis (silver ear, white fungus). China is the birthplace of Tremella fuciformis, and it is also the most famous variety in our city, with annual output accounting for more than 90% of the world's total. "Gutian Tremella" is already famous at home and abroad. Modern medical research has confirmed that Tremella polysaccharides have antitumor effects. In 1972, Ukai and others in Japan extracted acidic heteropolysaccharides from Tremella produced in China and Japan, and their tumor inhibition rate reached 45% to 91.7%. With the progress of science and technology, Tremella in Gutian County of our city has entered factory cultivation, and Tremella has also moved from the food of high officials and noble lords to the dining tables of ordinary people.
8. Ganoderma (reishi) is a brilliant pearl in the treasure house of Chinese medicine. As a medicine, Ganoderma has a history of more than two thousand years, and at home and abroad Chinese medicinal Ganoderma is widely used for patients with low immunity and for human health preservation and wellness. Li Shizhen, a medical scientist of the Ming Dynasty, recorded six kinds in the Compendium of Materia Medica: blue Ganoderma, red Ganoderma, yellow Ganoderma, mountain Ganoderma, black Ganoderma, and purple Ganoderma. At present, most of what is supplied for health care, medicinal use, and export is red Ganoderma (chi zhi). In the high mountain areas of our city, wild Ganoderma can be collected in both spring and autumn. Artificial cultivation is divided into spring cultivation and autumn cultivation. Cultivation methods include bag cultivation and short-log cultivation.
9. Straw mushroom (Volvariella volvacea), also known as orchid mushroom or Chinese mushroom. It is an edible mushroom that has long enjoyed a great reputation.
Straw mushroom is the edible mushroom that stands out alone in midsummer. It is divided into outdoor cultivation and indoor cultivation. Outdoor cultivation is carried out when the temperature is stable at 23°C. Indoor cultivation includes the straw-pile method and the bed cultivation method. As for cultivation materials, any agricultural and sideline product processing leftovers containing cellulose can be used as the basic substrate for cultivating straw mushroom. Straw mushroom has the shortest growth cycle (only 8 days from sowing to mushroom emergence), and its benefits are also high.
10. Phallus indusiatus (long-skirted bamboo fungus), also known as bamboo hat, bamboo ginseng, or immortal's hat. The fruiting body wears a dark green cap on its head and a snow-white net-like skirt, standing gracefully and elegantly, and is hailed as the "queen of mushrooms" and the "flower of fungi." Twelve species are known, and China has 6, among which 4 species, including long-skirted bamboo fungus, short-skirted bamboo fungus, red-veiled bamboo fungus, and spiny-veiled bamboo fungus, have been artificially cultivated, with long-skirted bamboo fungus as the main cultivated variety. In the mountainous areas of our city, wild bamboo fungus can be collected after rain in both spring and autumn. Bamboo fungus was originally wild, and its artificial cultivation history is short. Success was achieved in the early 1980s, and now there are many cultivation models: indoor box (bed) cultivation, outdoor furrow cultivation, intercropping with miscellaneous items (fruit trees), and so on. Cultivation materials are extensive; miscellaneous bamboo, Miscanthus floridulus, bean stalks, wheat straw, rice straw, mixed wood chips, sawdust, and so on can all be selected. Cultivation seasons are spring and autumn. Spring cultivation gives better results.