Updated: 2015-05-04 07:50 By Yang Wanli (China Daily USA)
Rare mountain mushrooms popular at home and abroad, but concerns linger over sustainability. Yang Wanli reports.
They say money doesn't grow on trees. But for China's fungi farmers, especially those in the fertile southwest, money has been growing in the ground.
As attitudes toward wild edible mushrooms have evolved along with culinary habits, the families nationwide who plant, harvest and sell them say their lives have been dramatically improved.
Shoppers pick out wild mushrooms at a farmers' market in Zhaotong, Yunnan province, in October.
Yan Keren /For China Daily
Yet after the boom, agriculture experts still fear a potential downturn due to poor farming practices.
Zhao Jinrui began collecting matsutake in the mountains of Heqing county, Yunnan province, 13 years ago. Today, thanks to the growing popularity of the mushroom, known among chefs for its spicy aroma, she says her family's income has risen tenfold to 10,000 yuan ($1,616) a year.
The 31-year-old now runs one of the 300 stalls at Shuimuhua Market, the largest fungi trading center in the provincial capital, Kunming.
"People in my village are expanding their business to other provinces and are earning tens of thousands of yuan a year," Zhao said.
China has more than 1,000 species of edible mushroom, with about 80 percent of them growing in Yunnan, said Liu Peigui, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Sciences' Kunming Institute of Botany.
For example, the province produced about 400,000 metric tons of edible mushrooms last year, generating a sales totaling 10.5 billion yuan, according to Yunnan Edible Mushroom Industrial Development Office. Wild mushrooms accounted for nearly 20 percent.
The demand to buy them stretches far and wide, with the biggest market for matsutake being Japan, where the mushroom has been part of the national diet for more than 1,000 years.
More than just a fungus, matsutake is seen in the country as a symbol for longevity, as well as a delicacy in autumn, and scientists say eating it can help to prevent cancer. Top quality matsutake, which usually matures between September and December, can cost a shopper in Tokyo about $1,000 for 450 grams, while 50 grams of the dried variety is about $100.
Since the 1980s, China has annually exported up to 1,200 metric tons of matsutake to its Asian neighbor, with up to 80 percent sourced from Yunnan, said botanist Liu, who has devoted nearly 30 years to the study of wild mushrooms.
In fact, the fancy fungus accounts for roughly 70 percent of China's total export volume every year, with Yunnan shipping 700 metric tons - valued at $38 million - to overseas markets last year, data from the provincial department of commerce show.
Diners' delight
Domestically, as people have become more wealthy, wild fungi has become a popular purchase, thanks largely to the growing desire among people to be healthy, as well as the rarity of these mountain delicacies, such as matsutake and truffles.
"When I was a high school student, wild mushrooms were not valued highly on the dining table," said Wang Junxian, who runs a branch of the Yunnan Mushroom King restaurant in Beijing. "To poor families that couldn't afford meat, mushrooms were no better than potatoes because of their low calories and rich fiber - although both of these things are highly recommended in today's diet."
His restaurant is part of a chain famous for serving wild mushrooms from Yunnan, and he said business has been good, especially in cities such as Beijing and Shanghai.
"Fatty foods are no longer top in the catering industry," he said. "Instead, mushrooms, especially wild mushrooms, have gradually become the diamond of the dinner table."
During harvest season, July to November, his restaurant flies in tens of kilograms of wild mushrooms from Yunnan. Wang added, "Freshness is the soul of good taste."
Keeping things fresh, however, is no easy task. Within 24 hours of being collected in the mountains, the mushrooms arrive in Kunming and are packed at a distribution point near the airport. The cost of airfreight usually doubles or even triples the price diners are forced to pay.
To reduce the costs, some restaurants sell frozen wild mushrooms, but the process can affect the taste, Wang explained.
Production volume, which is affected by climate and other changing factors, also influences the price on the menu. For example, a severe drought in 2012 resulted in the price of russula virescens, commonly known as the green-cracking russula, jumping from 120 yuan a kilogram to 700 yuan the following year.
Not all diners are willing to pay for these fresh mountain delicacies, Wang said, but in the past five years he said he has noticed an increase in the number of people ordering them in his restaurant.
Rough treatment
Although the numbers of people eating wild mushrooms in China has risen, officials have noted a dip in exports in recent years.
In 2012, Yunnan's edible mushroom exports hit 14,493 tons, valued at about $133 million. Yet that number fell in 2013 and then again last year, when sales were just 10,207 tons, according to the Yunnan Edible Mushroom Industrial Development Office.
"The economic downturn in Europe resulted in a reduction in demand for truffles and boletus, which had proved popular in Italy and France," said Su Wen, chairman of the Yunnan Association of Boletus Edulis. "The removal of a tax rebate is also to blame."
There has also been a drop in matsutake sales, according to official data. Although popular since the 1980s, especially in Japan, prices have still fallen from 3,000 yuan a kg in 2002 to 1,000 yuan last year. (Prior to 1980, it was just 10 yuan a kg.)
"The soaring prices resulted in some poor and irrational farming (of wild mushrooms) in some areas," Su said. "To sell the fungi at a higher price, some Chinese farmers used pesticides on wild matsutake. This led to some export orders being canceled due to complaints about pesticide residue."
Over-eager farmers have also had an effect on truffles, the so-called King of Fungi. Unlike plants with roots, truffles spread through spores, which act like seeds. Spores produce hyphae, the main mode of vegetative growth, which infect the root of a "partner tree". Hyphae are nourished by the tree and, in four to five years, grow into truffles.
To prevent truffles from being collected by other people, some farmers dig them out too early, before they mature, botanist Liu said. "Only if mature truffles are collected without hurting the hyphae will new truffles grow the next year," he said.
Equally worrying to experts is the rough manner in which Yunnan truffles are harvested. The hoes and iron rakes that farmers use to dig them out, rather than gathering them by hand, often destroy the hyphae.
To protect wild mushrooms and achieve sustainable development, last year the provincial government launched an investment program, aiming to give 10 million yuan a year to 58 enterprises over the next six years. The money will be used to improve facilities for mushroom processing and encourage technical innovation, according to authorities.
A business inspection team led by the provincial supply and marketing sector also went to Zhejiang and Fujian provinces, which both have mushroom processing centers, to learn about new technology and seek more opportunities in the international market.
"While the fungi grown in China continues to build its reputation, prices in the domestic market will continue to climb," predicted Zhou Zhongping, manager of Guihong Green Food Co, an enterprise in the mushroom trade since 1998.
The company is cooperating with research institutes and universities in Yunnan to realize an artificial way of planting some wild species.
"Artificially planted mushrooms will expand their market in the future and make people value wild ones even more," Zhou added. "It will benefit both the market and the protection of the wild species."