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| Cordyceps, or Yarchagumba, are more expensive than gold, placing them well above pricey saffron, let alone cloves. Appropriate to its Chinese translation “winter worm, summer grass”, this fusion of fungus and caterpillar grows only on the high Tibetan plateau, and wags refer to at as “Himalayan Viagra”. (Ironically, it most resembles a dried up worm.) Aficionados relish it for increasing stamina, not to mention imparting a subtly delicious flavor to chicken soup. |
| Cultivation is painstaking, in one of the world’s least hospitable terrains. But its caterpillar lifecycle that is especially unique, beginning life as a moth larva burrowed into earth. Over long winter hibernation a parasitic yellow-brown fungus grows atop, resulting in a fusion of twig and half larva. |
| We lucked onto this pricey fungi in Yunnan. In Shangri-La a shopkeeper revealed a 55 litre plastic garbage bag stored behind his counter and filled with the fungi. When I offered him $100 for a small handful, he scoffed. Traditional medicinal shops in Kunming also sell them, banded in bunches of 5 or 10 – and although expensive, prices in this part of the world are still a fraction elsewhere. |
| But there are problems in paradise, and both a failing crop due to this year’s drought in Yunnan, and subsequent hoarding have seen its price increasing stratospherically this year. |
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| Sadly, with high prices comes both greed and tragedy. Earlier this year (mid 2010) the entire male population in the Nepalese-Tibetan village of Nar were arrested. Some 36 men allegedly murdered 7 men for trespassing into the village’s traditional cordycep fields. The trial progresses… |
| In a lighter vein, there’s an anecdotal Chinese story about a wife cooking her husband’s noodles with cordyceps. When she opened the lid to serve, all the noodles were standing upright and erect. |
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When buying cordyceps overseas, ensure they are not been irradiated, which decreases its medicinal strength by some 70%. Store dry, tightly sealed, and when ready to use, soak whole in water for 2 hours, then add both water and cordyceps to simmering chicken stock for another couple hours, plus de-bonned meats. (Medical practitioners contend benefits otherwise go to the inedible bones. Likewise, eschew aluminum; use enamelware or heat proof glass.) We especially like cooking cordyceps in a Yunnanese steam pot or qiguoji, a ceramic doughnut shaped vessel tightly placed atop simmering water. Steaming water enters above, spraying onto chicken pieces and seasonings, cooking for several hours and longer. |
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| To taste cordyceps first hand, join our Yunnan2 food tours in Feb/Mar ‘11. Totally new itinerary from our Yunnan expedition last year. Visit the world’s oldest and largest terraced rice paddies, ancient mountain villages, plus acres upon hectares of yellow flowering canola in peak spring. A second tour continues onto Lijiang and Shangri-La in the Northwest, we’re we’ll be feted in true luxury at Banyon Tree properties – considered among the 10 best hotels in China. Delicious food, delightful company and deluxe accommodation: our winning recipe. |
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