Different Varieties of Mushrooms in our Place

Are you like me who grew up in the mountains? What are the things you love to do? Have you ever tried mushroom hunting? Did you know that there are different varieties of it? And there's actually edible and inedible while there is also a variety that are collected and sold for medicinal purposes.

Wild mushrooms fruit seasonally from the month of July to September. Sometimes as early as June. But the most is the month of July. It does not just fruit anywhere but only to some certain spots that's why mushroom hunters would go to the same spot each year. They sprout in clusters, and others were separated from each. They can be spotted easily while others hid on dried weeds and pine needles. It was believed that these fungi often fruit when there was a thunderstorm. I don't know what was the connection but it is true. They were collected right away after the thunderstorm like for about 3 to 5 days else it will be dried or rotten.

I grew up in a village where these mushrooms grow aplenty but never have I ever tried to go hunting. Firstly, my dad would usually go as early as twilight in the mountains, may it be in the morning or evening. Then when we were growing, my older brother and sister were the ones who were going with other older kids to look for them. They won't let me come with them because I was yet small and it was a very long walk from our sitio to where the mushrooms can be found. And when I was in highschool to college, we lived in central town where we seldom come home to our village. Thus, I never had the chance to go for mushroom hunting. And believe me, I still don't know how to identify the edible ones from the inedible until today that I try to distinguish them.

Mushroom is a fungi with an umbrella shaped body. Most often the term mushroom is used to identify the edible ones while toadstool is for the inedible and poisonous ones.

1. Kum-u. This is the most common variety.

2. Tavelew. Yellow

3. Buu - rounded mushrooms. Those were already sliced.

4. Uong. Seldom do you see it in cluster. This has a meaty texture and tastes sweet. It can be cooked with any recipe especially paired with other vegetables and soup.

1. Gehey- this is seldomly found

There are other varieties but I was not able to find pictures of them. Well, who knows I would be blogging these days that's why I was not able to take some pictures of those other varieties my husband had hunted before. It includes hezehjem, apan and many more.

Most often we cook these fungi by boiling it first in water then extract the water when it has simmered for about 5 minutes. Sauté it in oil, garlic, onion, and season it with soy sauce or just salt. You can add finely chopped scallion or celery for garnishing or other leafy herbs you have.

But before cooking, we have to wash it thoroughly in running water using an unused toothbrush to get the stuck mud.

I really would like to try mushroom burger at the time when my husband went to hunt last time, unfortunately, we don't have the ingredients needed. Might try next time.

Mushrooms were being cultivated but I don't know the name of the one being grown here in our area. It has a rubbery stem but the dome is good.

Mushroom do not only tastes delicious with a subtle flavour and something to really crave for but it offers numbers of health benefits our body needs.

Cholesterol- free

Most of it contain most water, about 90% 1% fat and 5% carbs. Its potassium content aids in reducing sodium in the body that helps lower blood pressure.

Full of nutrients

If you're looking for something low in calorie for your diet then mushroom is a good choice as it contains fiber, protein and antioxidant. Its antioxidant content reduce the risk of hypertension. Other nutritional content includes selenium, copper, thiamin, and magnesium.

However, when you are like me who is not familiar with wild mushrooms and you intend to go for a hunt then you have to be with anyone who knew about it. Because when you happen to collect those inedible ones and cooked and consumed it, for sure you will feel the side effects of it. Well, I don't know if it caused poisoning but what I have heard is that it will alter how the mind functions or somewhat contains hallucinogenic properties. It was like you have been drugged because some said it will cause hallucinations or someone to feel high, or other things which is really abnormal. This will take some hours until the substance that caused it will eventually expires from the body. Locally, we call those types of inedible mushrooms as "tagtago."

Now, we also have the kudji as we locally call it. It grows on decaying hard woods. It has an appearance like that of a kidney or shaped like that of a fan. It also has a woody and hard texture after being gathered and left for days. But, it's a little soft when not plucked. My mother once told me before when she was selling Lingzhi coffee, a product of DXN that it was no other than the kudji. It was its raw material.

My parents before, after coming home from the Quirino Province used to hunt kudji in the mountains and sold it to some buyers. These buyers also sell it to manufacturers for medicine production.

As I recalled the Lingzhi name, I tried to google it and found out that it was this kudji. It's either called Ganoderma, Lingzhi by the Chinese and Reishi by the Japanese. It grows in 6 colors but the red one is more dominant. But what we have here is the creamy brownish to redish color. It was hunted now when people learned that it can be used as a traditional medicine.

Closing thoughts

I don't know much about mushrooms especially those that were being hunted here in our place but I was reminded to write about it when my eldest came home one day with a bag of kum-u. I was reminded that never in my life did I ever tried to go for a mushroom hunting while my 8 year old boy already did. So I was inspired to write about it. However the ones they were able to gather were already a bit old, as it was turning black. Then later that evening, Xzeon's (May's) son brought over some. He was one whom my boy tagged along with.

I can only say that exotic foods are really very beneficial to our health. It doesn't only have its distinct flavor and aroma but these foods remind us to take care of our nature so that future generations would be able to behold the natural ecosystem and not only read it in books or watched it on their gadgets.

07-17-21

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