Thai Jungle Mushrooms
Thai Jungle Mushrooms – No Magic Involved
These huge Thai jungle mushrooms were hand-picked by one of the locals from Wonderful Wi’s village in Udon Thani Province. There is no magic or hallucinations attached to them. Just lovely, edible mushrooms. I’m not sure which type they are – possibly shiitake (het hom / เห็ดหอม) an aromatic fungus found in woodlands. I could be way wrong, but my limited research pointed to the shiitake species commonly found in South East Asia.
I can’t recall how much the half-dozen mushrooms cost. I remember it wasn’t a lot and Wilai made a broth type soup with them. I didn’t have big enough bacon rashers to lay claim to any.
Thai mushroom pickers go out early morning and carefully tread through woodland terrain to hunt out various types of mushrooms. Shiitake mushrooms grow around the base and lower trunks of trees. The downside is many species of snakes home plate the woods, poisonous pit vipers and cobras among them. Two good reasons Wilai picks mushrooms from supermarket shelves and market stalls.
Mushrooms are one of my favourite foods, and luckily Thailand has a tasty variety of them. One of which I tasted for the first time in Chiang Khan, a charming and picturesque town on the banks of the Mekong River in Loei Province.
Thai mushrooms wrapped in bacon
These are mouth-watering and ultra-delicious. I’m 99.9 % certain these are enoki mushrooms. Bacon-wrapped enoki mushrooms are popular in North Thailand although I’m not sure if so throughout the Kingdom. They might be a regional delicacy. The photograph explains the reason Northern Thais adore them. These were delicious and not expensive at all.
How do you rate Thai mushrooms? Perhaps you have a mushroom picking tale to tell. Love to hear it.
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“How do you rate Thai mushrooms? ”
I hate to disappoint but when it comes to mushrooms I’m a Western mushroom gal myself. As I get repeats off the more aromatic Asian mushrooms they’ve long lost their appeal. I can eat spicy food and Durian all and every day but not mushrooms. Odd, I know.
I do have mushroom picking stories but they are from a former life …
Love mushrooms and October is the season in our area and the famous Head kone will be in the mt.s we have a lot on out Mt. , but the filkd go at 4:am and I’m still asleep , sooo we buy them on the side of the road from the pickers , a good one .
Catherine – I love mushrooms. My favourites are the Western button ones. They are perfect for a decent English breakfast. The enoki mushrooms wrapped in bacon were excellent as well, though they are more a late morning/afternoon snack.
Nice to hear from you. Have been following you on Facebook.
Malcolm – In my eyes the mushroom pickers are brave souls. I wouldn’t fancy trampling through the type of undergrowth the mushrooms grow in. Too scary for me, although the early morning start would suit me fine. Happy eating.