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US$1,100 for 1kg? Inside Yunnan’s booming wild-mushroom market in China
In China’s wild-mushroom capital, there are more than 1,000 species of edible varieties, and many are highly prized in Chinese dishes
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Yunnan is often referred to as one of China’s agricultural baskets, producing everything from flowers and coffee to tea and olive oil. Yet few ingredients are as closely associated with the province as its yeshengjun, or wild mushrooms.
From July to September each year, seasonal rains transform the province’s mountains and forests into one of the world’s richest mushroom habitats, drawing foragers into the hills and filling wholesale markets with freshly harvested fungi destined for restaurants across the country.
Among Yunnan’s abundant array of wild mushrooms, none inspires greater obsession among connoisseurs than the ganbajun, named after Yunnan’s sun-dried beef jerky as the fungi develops an intensely savoury aroma when cooked.
But ganbajun’s yield is low, its season brief and demand intense. The coral-like fungus is also notoriously difficult to clean, often emerging from the forest floor with its folds filled with pine needles, soil and pebbles.
It was one of the mushrooms I most hoped to encounter during my trip to Yunnan, China’s wild mushroom capital.
“There are more than 1,000 species of edible wild mushrooms in Yunnan, accounting for approximately 91 per cent of all edible wild mushroom species found in China,” says our host Liu Xin, chef-owner of Yunnan restaurant Hong 0871 and a native of Kunming.
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