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lead=yes, Tricholoma matsutake, is a species of choice edible mushroom that grows in Eurasia and North America. It is prized in Japanese cuisine for its distinct aroma.
In the North American Pacific Northwest, T. murrillianum is found in forests of one or more of the following tree species: western hemlock, Douglas fir, Noble fir, Shasta red fir, Sugar pine, Ponderosa pine, or Lodgepole pine. In California and parts of Oregon, it is also associated with hardwoods, including Tanoak, Madrone, Rhododendron, Salal, and Manzanita. In northeastern North America, the closely related mushroom Tricholoma magnivelare is generally found in Jack pine forests. A 2000 report categorized T. nauseosum as a synonym of T. matsutake.
Matsutake mushrooms grow under trees and are usually concealed under plant litter on the forest floor, forming a mycorrhiza with roots of various tree species. In Korea and Japan, matsutake mushrooms are most commonly associated with Pinus densiflora.Ashburne, John, " In search of the Holy Grail of mushrooms", The Japan Times, 16 October 2011, p. 7. In China, matsutake () is mainly distributed in the northeast and southwest regions. In the northeast, the growth of matsutake depends on the P. densiflora, its distribution is the same as that of P. densiflora. Longjing City, Jilin, China is known as the "Hometown of Matsutake". "天佛指山/Tianfozhi Mountain" in Longjing has been approved as a national nature reserve by the State Council of China. This is the first nature reserve for an edible mushroom and its ecosystem in China.
Matsutake are hard to find because of their specific growth requirements, the rarity of appropriate forest and terrain, and competition from wild animals such as squirrels, rabbits, and deer for the once-yearly harvest of mushrooms. Domestic production of matsutake in Japan has also been sharply reduced over the latter half of the 20th century due to the pine-killing nematode Bursaphelenchus xylophilus.
In the 1940s, the abundance of the mushrooms in Japan made them accessible to the general public after long being considered a luxury good, but after the decline of these mushrooms in the region, international trade for them created a fluctuating market that sometimes became very lucrative for the regions of the world that these mushrooms grow in, such as Yunnan of Southwest China. Very few countries other than Korea had a preexisting economy for matsutake, and Japanese speculators scoped out regions to market the fungi. Certain regions garner a higher price as well, with regions such as North America seeing a higher price by weight than regions such as those in Southwest China.
The price gathered for matsutake in Japan can vary based on the state of the mushroom. Frozen or dried matsutake are less sought after than fresh ones in luxury markets, meaning that the international trade must be done at a quick pace to keep the mushrooms from decaying.
Ecology
The candy cane plant or sugarstick, Allotropa virgata, parasitizes these mushrooms by deriving nourishment from the fungal mycelia via its root system. These plants can be used to signal hunters of the mushrooms, both human and animal, to the location of the fungus' underground mycelia. Additionally, insects are also known to target these mushrooms as food and a place to lay their eggs, limiting the amount of the mushrooms that can be harvested by human gatherers.
Market
Matsutake is prized in Japanese cuisine for its distinct spicy-aromatic odor. The annual harvest of matsutake in Japan is now less than 1,000 tons, with the Japanese mushroom supply largely made up by imports from China, Korea, the Pacific Northwest, British Columbia, and northern Europe. 輸入マツタケに異変 中国産激減、フィンランド参戦, J-CAST, 2007/9/26. This results in prices in the Japanese market highly dependent on quality, availability, and origin that can range from as high as for domestically harvested matsutake at the beginning of the season to as low as , though the average value for imported matsutake is about .Matsutani, Minoru, " Japan's long love affair with 'matsutake'", The Japan Times, 9 November 2010, p. 3.
See also
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