Finding fungi: A look at India’s wild edible mushrooms
And why they need to be conserved
If yeast gets the spotlight in lockdown, can mushrooms be far behind?
They are recommended as pantry staples, part of lockdown recipes and an alternative source of income for working professionals.
But beyond the highly cultivated button mushroom (and a few other varieties) lies a world of wild edible fungi in India, best discovered during the monsoon.
They grow in hollow barks, on termite hills, on dead banana stems and in arid deserts. Some resemble vessels, some appear when lightning strikes and some bleed blue milk.
Together, they sustain the growth of forests through wood wide web — underground networks that connect trees.
The mushroom curators
India’s indigenous communities are the custodians of her wild edible fungi.
Take the example of Bilinso Syiemlieh, 70. She is an expert on the wild fungi in the forests around Jakrem village in West Khasi Hills of Meghalaya. She learnt to identify edible varieties at a young age by accompanying elders on collection trips. After her husband’s death, foraging for mushrooms became a way to sustain her family of five. So, she began experimenting with unknown fungi too. It wasn’t without risks. Once, when a mushroom turned out to be toxic, “I was sweating all over and my clothes were soaked,” she reveals in the trailer of soon-to-release documentary Planet Fungi — North East India.
“She has had a couple of near misses where she became very sick,” say Australian director Catherine Marciniak, who made this documentary with reputed fungi photographer Stephen Axford, in association with Assam’s Balipara Foundation. “She has also discovered some edible mushrooms, adding to her village’s knowledge about them.”
India’s tribal communities consume nearly 283 of the 2,000 species of wild edible mushrooms found the world over.
And much like Syiemlieh, they have their own ways of identifying the fungi. In Maharashtra, the names of mushrooms collectively called aalimb, are prefixed with spots they grow in: wood-sprouting ones are lakdachi aalimb or kathrud, those that grow in the soil bed of the mahua tree are moha cha aalimb, and so on.
The tree and soil impart a distinct flavour to the fungus, courtesy their symbiotic relationships. Textures, shapes are popular ways of identification too. “A mushroom found on the peaks of Harishchandragad and Kalsubai is called telia sattar because of its oily, slippery head,” says Shailesh Awate, co-founder, OOO Farms that promotes sustainable agricultural practices and documents Maharashtra’s bounty.
Fastest fungi first
Scouring for mushrooms is a blink-and-you-miss-it game.
The wild mushrooms grow in very specific micro-habitats that also makes it difficult to conserve them, says Nashik-based ecologist Jui Pethe. She would collect a puffball mushroom after the first rains, near her house. “It didn’t grow every year. That’s when I realised that it appears only when the first rain is followed by two-three days of bright sunlight.”
During the holy month of Shravan, many people seek out mushrooms as a substitute for meat. The demand hikes up and some varieties become a source of income for forest dwellers, fetching anything from Rs 200 to Rs 3,000 per kilo. These include the beady truffles called boda that grow under the sal trees in Chhattisgarh and a similar variety called rugra found in the neighbouring Jharkhand, where it’s also called ‘vegetarian mutton’.
The boda disappears by July. “Many believe that the flowers of the sal turn into mushrooms when the lightning strikes. We get two kinds of boda — with white (rakhadi) and black (jatha) flesh. People prefer the black one as it’s tastier,” says B Bindu, business head of eco-travel startup, Unexplored Bastar.
In Mumbai’s Sanjay Gandhi National Park, tribals wait for August to collect magi aalimb and shiti aalimb of the Termitomyces genus that grow on termite hills. “The mushrooms usually appear a day after incessant rains. Some head into the forest the previous night itself. It’s a competition because they don’t grow in bulk and perish quickly,” says Dinesh Barap, a Warli artist living in one of the padas (settlements) in the national park.
Familiarity and age-old indigenous wisdom are handy tools. “We know the locations where they grow. We have a particular variety that is found only in one spot in the forest,” he adds.
Most wild varieties are a powerhouse of proteins, vitamins and micro-nutrients, thus, vital to tribal diets. “I’m told that pregnant women were specially fed mushrooms from termite hills,” says Barap. Awate reasons, “Its soil is richer in minerals and nutrients.”
Cooking up a ’shroom
While most mushrooms are had fresh, some are dried too.
The gucchi or morels found in the Himalayas are coveted for the delicate flavours and nutritional properties encased in their pleats. But there’s more to the region.
In Jammu and Kashmir, where natives eat as many as 41 mushrooms (says this study), the dried versions provides sustenance in harsh winters when vegetation is scarce.
Cleaning and preservation are a laborious process. In Jammu’s Doda and Bhadarwah regions, women spend hours foraging for a cup fungus (Geopora arenicola). Locally known as kundi due to its shape resembling a stone mortar vessel, it grows under the cover of conifers. “It’s half-merged in soil, so it needs to be washed thoroughly in running water. It’s sun-dried, salted and preserved with turmeric powder,” says Yash Pal Sharma, professor at the botany department in Jammu University and co-author of the study.
These regions also grow oblong pebble-like dudh katt or matij (Rhizopogon spp.) that are had uncooked, and the bhutoo (Boletus spp.) that are fire-roasted.
From ambada (roselle leaves) to bamboo shoot, fermented fish, milk and a variety of other greens and vegetables, tribals cook mushrooms in a number of ways.
In Rajasthan’s Thar desert, the powdery spores of doda (mushrooms from two genuses Podaxis and Phellorinia) are mixed in millet flour.
In many homes of Manipur, the Cheiraoba (Manipuri New Year) feast is incomplete without a saag of eggplant and uyen (a shiitake-like mushroom).
Kanglayen paknam (pan-roasted split gill mushroom) and uchina kangou (black wood-ear mushroom stir-fry) with peas are other commonly popular mushroom dishes. “Each has a distinct chewy texture and taste. Manipuris usually prefer these over button mushrooms,” says Ammo Angom, co-founder of The Sharing Bowl, a Mumbai-based food startup that aggregates home chefs on an online platform.
The Khasi tribes in mycophilic (mushroom-loving) Meghalaya place a scalding hot tip of an iron rod in a bowl of cooked mushrooms. This traditional cooking technique known as narsuh helps destroy toxins, if any.
The rugra, meanwhile, is best enjoyed with dhuttu, a rice cake steamed in sal leaf cones, informs Abir Kumar Barman. The Mumbai-based fashion designer and food blogger, who is in Ranchi due to lockdown, went foraging for rugra with locals in the neighbouring Horhap forest for five long hours “but found only a handful”. He recorded the special song that the Oraon community, dependent on forests, sing during the collection.
Going, going…
The popularity of these precious mushroom varieties is a cause for concern. Many varieties are vanishing, says Angom, reminiscing stories that his father narrated of gathering “moss-like stuff called nungshum from far-off rivers for its unique taste”. It is rarely seen now as are the mushrooms that grew in his Imphal home’s kitchen garden.
In J&K, depleting conifers are impacting kundi while Termitomyces across India are vanishing “because people are cleaning up termite mounds,” says Sharma.
While forest dwellers have always maintained sustainable ways of collecting, depleting resources and increasing demand isn’t helping matters. Over-harvesting is a cause of concern, like in the case of olmi, whose popularity is turning into an ecological threat for the forests of Goa.
Pethe asserts, “The wild mushrooms are the main source of protein for forest dwellers. They need to be made aware of its nutritional security. This should be weighed against the income that is generated. After that, if they still wish to sell, it’s their informed choice.”
Besides social awareness, it’s also important to initiate more scientific search on growth patterns, identify good habitats to chalk out conservation plans and manage them better for sustainable harvesting. This can help generate an alternate source of income.
Cultivate and sustain
Bringing native wild mushrooms into the fold of commercial cultivation could be a viable option, suggest experts.
In 1993, India cultivated its first indigenous species of wild edible fungi — a milky mushroom (Calocybe indica) from West Bengal. It’s now commercially produced in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.
Prior to that, the research was only focused on button mushrooms that aren’t native to India, says Dr Meera Pandey, principal scientist, Mushroom Research Lab at the Bengaluru-based Indian Institute of Horticultural Research, a subsidiary of Indian Council of Agricultural research (ICAR-IIHR).
She worked on its domestication for six years. Since then, she has undertaken several expeditions across India to bring more varieties under cultivation. “It’s not easy because mushrooms are so ephemeral,” she says.
However, efforts are bearing fruit as different varieties of oyster mushrooms are being brought under cultivation. These are more nutritious than the button variety. They can grow in temperatures from 12 to 28 degree Celsius and agricultural waste, rather than compost, is sufficient for their growth, making it “zero-waste production”.
In 2011, ICAR-IIHR commercialised a pink oyster mushroom that’s a staple to Shivamogga forest in Karnataka, and a grey-hued elm oyster mushroom.
Two more varieties from Bengaluru are up for commercial release. The black oyster mushroom that grows on Singapore Cherry tree and the Macrocybe gigantea that grow in tufts of hundreds at a time. A mushroom sprouting on the dried bamboo in Gujarat’s Dang forests, known as vasrot (bamboo bread), is also being looked at.
The way forward, says Pandey, is to domesticate the species that the tribals consume.
For example, bringing the popular wild shiitake mushrooms from Sikkim and Manipur under cultivation. “The production technology of shiitake mushroom is available. This variety is highly suitable for the ambient climate of the northeast. For people to start growing rather than collecting them from forests, it is important to establish the ICAR-IIHR model of mechanised mushroom seed production units, train people and link them to markets in other parts of India. In the long run of sustainability debate, the cultivation of local species, naturally suitable to the geography of the place, needs to be encouraged so that the diversity is maintained.”
If this happens, India’s wild edible fungi can enjoy their day in the rain.
