Not only knowing when to pick the fungus, pickers must follow strict rules.

Foraging for russula mushrooms in forest

During a recent working trip with forest rangers of Luc Nam district, I was told about russula mushroom or known as "pure gold" of the forest. Out of curiosity, I asked Pham Bang Giang, chief of the district’s forest ranger station to take me to see the fungus. After several missed appointments, last weekend, I followed Giang to Nghia Phuong commune, Luc Nam district to hear stories about the fungus. 

It is called "kingdom" of the fungus because the whole commune has over 500 hectares of chestnut forests, accounting for nearly half of the district’s total area. Arriving in the edge of the forest, we saw a group of people who looked excited after picking many mushrooms. Showing mẹ her catch, Nguyễn Thị Thêm happily said “Luckily, I picked over 20kg of mushrooms today. I could earn nearly 3 million VND from selling them at 140,000 VND per kg."

After exchanging greetings, I followed Nguyen Dinh The, chief of Doc Linh village, one of the well-known mushroom foragers, to the forest. We met tens of people on their way back after picking russula mushrooms. The said more than half of 100 households in Doc Linh enjoy the gift from the forest in each mushroom season. There are several professional mushroom pickers such as Them, Du, Binh. 

Russula mushroom is known to grow in several areas in the Central Highlands and the northern provinces of Cao Bang, Bac Kan, Quang Ninh. In Bac Giang, these mushroom species appear in several chestnut forests in Luc Nam and Son Dong districts. The more old and rotten trees in the forest, the more russula mushrooms there are. Each year, the fungus grows profusely in the third – fourth and sixth-eighth lunar month.

With more than 10 years of experience in hunting for the fungus, The quickly took us to a chest nut forest area where the fungus grows most profusely. Though seeing the footprints of those who previously passed by, The was sure that he could find the mushroom. According to him, this species grows very fast. After more than an hour, a new layer of fungus will begin to sprout.

It turned out to be true, we saw a newly-blown bundle of russula mushrooms upon going further about 3m into the forest. They are umbrella-shaped, red-coloured and non-malignant.

Preserving forest windfall

According to Nghia Phuong local residents, russula mushrooms are mostly collected by merchants in and outside the province, then brought to China for consumption at high prices. We later met Pham Van Tam from Tan Huong village, Nghia Phuong commune at noon. He started to bring a batch of freshly-bought mushrooms to the drying oven. 

The russula mushroom.

In mushroom season, his family collects nearly 100kg of fresh mushrooms each day. After being processed, they are brought into the drying oven. “Every 6 kg of fresh mushrooms will produce 1 kg of dried ones. Currently, dried mushrooms are bought by Chinese merchants at about 1.2 million VND per kg. Previously, local people use russula mushrooms as a specialty food but due to high prices, most of them are mainly for sale”, Tam said.

Listening to stories about russula mushrooms, we know that many households have become better off thanks to gift from the forest, notably family of Nguyen Thi Them or Vy in Vo Tranh commune.

Pham Bang Giang, chief of Luc Nam district’s forest guard unit, said the district is now home to over 9,000 hectares of natural forests, including about 1,200ha of chestnut forests in communes of Nghia Phuong, Luc Son, Truong Son, Huyen Son, Vo Tranh and Truong Giang. However, not all chestnut forests have russula mushrooms because they grow in specific areas, weather and soil conditions. 

Asked about how to spread russula mushroom cultivation, Giang said: “It is what I have been concerned for a long time. I myself and local residents want this produce to be studied and tapped sustainably, ensuring biodiversity and preventing mass exploitation and sale like at present”. To keep “pure gold” of the forest everlasting, Giang said agencies concerned should devise a project to study value and characteristics of russula mushrooms, thereby outlining orientations to processing and meeting domestic demand. Local people are advised to protect natural forests and prevent deforestation, thus creating conditions for russula mushrooms to grow.

Sy Quyet