Yunnan’s rainy season is the best time of the year to grow wild mushrooms, thanks to the humid and sultry weather. The area’s edible wild mushrooms account for more than a half of those spread throughout the world and for two-thirds of the options available in China.
If you're visting Yunnan for the first time during the rainy season, make sure you don’t miss out on tasting these delicious wild mushrooms. Local people have created many different cooking methods, recipes and dishes for every single variety of wild mushroom, with every single one of them boasting a wide range of exotic flavours.
Stir-fried mushrooms
Stir-frying is the most traditional method for cooking wild mushrooms. These can be mixed with garlic, dried chilli or green pepper.
Without too much seasoning, the pure natural aroma of the wild mushrooms and the spicy chilli can prove to be delicious. The most suitable mushroom varieties for stir-frying are the boletus mushroom, Ganba mushroom and Lactarius volemus mushroom, for example.
Wild mushroom soup
Wild mushrooms are also perfect to bring a special flavour to a wide range of soups.
The soup can be mixed with a small amount of oil and cooked in chicken stock, or boiled in water, with the mushrooms added.
Note that the soup shouldn't have too much seasoning. Wild mushroom soup is commonly famous for its fresh taste. Amongst the most suitable mushroom varieties to cook a delicious soup are the russula virescens mushrooms, collybia albuminosa mushrooms, chanterelle mushrooms and tricholoma matsutake mushrooms, for example.
Deep frying
The collybia albuminosa mushroom variety is the most commonly used if you enjoy eating deep-fried food.
Start frying the mushrooms in a pan of oil until they become golden, and mix them with dried chilli, star anise, pepper, and other spices you like.
When you cook rice noodles, add a little bit of the collybia albuminosa mushroom oil and the mushrooms to add a special flavour. The fragrant smell and crisp taste will make you mouth water.
Pan-fry
Tricholoma matsutake mushrooms and collybia albuminosa mushrooms are the most suitable for pan-frying.
The Show named A Bite of China let people know the tricholoma matsutake mushroom of Shangri-La, Yunnan. The butter pan-fried tricholoma matsutake mushroom will keep the most original taste of it. Tastes it carefully, and the unique aroma will spread in the mouth, making people fall in love with it.
Roast
You might also consider roasting wild mushrooms. If you go for this, it is important to control the heat.
You shouldn't scorch them or apply any sort of grease, so to keep the original and authentic flavour.
The most suitable mushrooms for roasting are tricholoma matsutake and russula virescens, among others.
Wild Mushroom Hotpot
This dish has a chicken soup base and you can add different types of mushrooms. It’s a feast for the senses, with lovely colours, fragrances and flavours.
In addition to these most common cooking methods for wild mushrooms, Yunnan people have also created their own cooking techniques according to the unique taste and flavour of each mushroom.
Wild mushrooms are delicious, but you must be careful about which ones you select and eat – as they could be harmful to health.
1. Do not pick and eat unfamiliar, decaying or unidentifiable wild fungi
2. When you eat wild mushrooms, you should avoid mixing varieties. It is best to eat only one type at a time. They must be cooked thoroughly, and cold salads are strictly prohibited. It is not advisable to drink alcohol when eating wild mushrooms, as this could cause a reaction
3. If you feel some sort of dizziness, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, diarrhoea, irritability, hallucinations and other symptoms after eating wild mushrooms, you should go to the nearest medical facility to get treatment as soon as possible
Yunnan
Yunnan
