Once a year, in the 10th lunar month, people in the mountainous districts of Phu Yen province wait for mushrooms to grow so they can "pick" them, first to eat to satisfy their cravings after a year of waiting, and then to sell them to earn money to get through the rainy season.
Termite mushroom
Termite mushrooms cannot be cultivated because they reproduce in places with old termite mounds, prefer places with lots of compost leaves, high humidity, and often grow in clusters. The mushroom ears are smaller than the palm of the hand, shaped like umbrellas, the mushroom stem is white, the mushroom cap is light brown when still in bud, and white when blooming.
The newly pulled termite mushrooms are cleaned of the soil underneath. Instead of using a knife, people here often use a thin piece of the trunk of a tree to make it sharp and scrape the soil off the mushroom's foot. They believe that if they use a sharp metal object, it will "kill the mushroom" and they will not be able to pull the mushroom out again next year.
After cleaning the soil, the mushrooms are washed thoroughly, held between two fingers, and gently shaken above and below the cap to clean the soil. The operation must be very gentle, otherwise the mushrooms will be crushed and soaked in water and will not be delicious. Then drain and prepare the dish.
Termite mushrooms can be used to make many dishes such as sweet mushrooms, pancake mushrooms, porridge mushrooms or grilled mushrooms... They are naturally sweet and fragrant, so termite mushrooms do not need to be elaborately prepared. Among them, sweet mushrooms cooked with chili peppers is probably the simplest, most familiar dish to Phu Yen people.
Tear the mushrooms into bite-sized pieces, saute some onions until fragrant, then add them and stir well, add a little salt, a little water and cook until fragrant, finally add crushed chili peppers to complete the flavor. After a day of digging mushrooms in the forest, the weather is a bit chilly, enjoying a bowl of mushroom soup that you picked yourself warms your stomach.
When it's termite mushroom season, people rush to find them, forgetting the cold wind and rain. The joke "craving like mushrooms" is not wrong. Going to find mushrooms before dawn, with a bag of mushrooms weighing about 4 kg in hand, Mr. Nguyen Huu Thang (residing in Xuan Quang 3 commune, Dong Xuan district, Phu Yen) shared: "I go before dawn, that's when I can pick good mushrooms. At this time, the mushrooms are just buds, very crispy and sweet, and can be sold for a higher price than mushrooms that have bloomed. Moreover, at this time, it's easier to see the mushrooms with a flashlight. If I wait until dawn to go, someone else will have picked them all."
Not only do people pick mushrooms to eat, many people also make money from picking mushrooms to sell. Termite mushrooms at the beginning of the season cost from 180,000 - 250,000 VND/kg, if lucky, mushroom pickers can earn from several hundred to a million VND thanks to mushrooms.
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