"Heavenly blessings" season in the Central Highlands

Termite mushrooms only grow once a year at the beginning of the rainy season, especially when the weather is alternating between rain and sunshine. This type of mushroom often appears in plantations, rubber gardens, areas with lots of rotten leaves, moist, loose soil. In particular, places with termite nests have termite mushrooms.

To pick mushrooms, people often go early in the morning or after a midday rain, because at these two times they will see mushrooms growing tall.

Not only observing with the naked eye, experienced people who go to collect termite mushrooms can listen to the sound of insects, even smell the soil to detect signs of termite nests, where mushrooms may be hidden underground. Notice that the surface of the ground has raised marks, the soil is slightly cracked, which is a sign that there are young termite mushrooms growing underneath. Mushroom hunters must distinguish whether the mushroom mound they are looking for is a termite mushroom or a poisonous mushroom. There are many types of poisonous mushrooms that look similar to termite mushrooms.

Mr. Y Khiem Eban (Ea Tam Ward, Buon Ma Thuot City) said that wherever there are mushrooms, they will emit a fragrant smell mixed with the smell of soil. People who look for mushrooms will recognize that characteristic smell and follow it. There are two types of mushrooms, in which, female mushrooms will grow many mushrooms in one place, small and soft mushrooms; while male mushrooms will grow 1-2 mushrooms, bigger and harder than female mushrooms.

While still in the ground, the mushroom cap hugs the stem tightly like a nail, so it is called a nail mushroom. When the nail mushroom grows a little bit, it is a bud mushroom when it just emerges from the ground, not yet fully opened. After only about 2 - 3 hours, the bud will open up and become round like an umbrella, called a blooming mushroom, white in color and starting to age.

Termite mushrooms were collected by a resident of Ko Tam village (Ea Tu commune, Buon Ma Thuot city).

During the termite mushroom season, many people go looking for it, but not everyone can pick the “heavenly blessing”. The lucky ones can get a whole basket of mushrooms in just a short while, while others go all day without finding any termite mushrooms. Mr. Y Khiem said that according to the concept passed down from his grandparents, mushroom pickers are not allowed to use metal objects to impact the mushrooms, because if they do so, the mushrooms will not grow back in that place next year. People will use their hands or small wooden sticks to carefully pry the mushrooms up so as not to damage the remaining mushroom buds.

Due to the growth characteristics of termite mushrooms, which are very fast aging, harvesting also needs to be very timely. Termite mushrooms can be processed into many attractive dishes such as: stir-fried, soup, porridge, stewed, soup... In which, stir-fried termite mushrooms are a light, easy-to-prepare dish, loved by many people. Particularly for the Ede people in the Central Highlands, they often cook termite mushrooms with eggplant, squash shoots, pumpkin shoots and bitter eggplant, with a special indispensable ingredient: perilla leaves. Another traditional cooking method, as shared by Ms. HYer Mlô (Ea Tu commune, Buon Ma Thuot city), is to boil water and season; when the water boils, add mushrooms, and when the stove is almost off, add chopped betel leaves. This cooking method does not use cooking oil and must have spices including betel leaves, coriander, chili and shallots.

“In the past, during the rainy season, termite mushrooms were countless, growing all over the forests and gardens. Nowadays, the ecological environment has changed a lot, along with the use of pesticides in farming, so there are not many termites in the soil, without termites there would be no mushrooms,” Ms. HYer M'lô shared.

According to research, termite mushroom has the scientific name Termitomyces albuminosus, is a fungus belonging to the Lyophyllaceae family. Termite mushroom is rich in calcium, phosphorus, iron, protein and nutrients that are good for health, especially for people with diabetes. From a rustic, familiar dish of the Central Highlands people, termite mushroom is being hunted by many people as a specialty.

Source: https://baodaklak.vn/du-lich/202506/mua-loc-troio-tay-nguyen-4ac03c0/