Food from the earth

One late evening two days ago my husband mentioned about some nice mushroom growth in our lawn by the kitchen.  Occupied with some errands I made no heed of it.  It was typical of him to be excited over nothing at times.  Come morning the next day, I was out of the house early to hang the laundry when the mushrooms caught my eyes.  What came immediately to mind was, "Those must be cendawan busut (Termitomyces sp.)," one of the most delicious mushrooms to be found.  However, remembering my late grandpa's fate (he died of mushroom poisoning) I was cautious about the whole thing.

Remembering that a few months back we had cendawan busut from a neighbour, I invited her over for confirmation.  She was as excited as I was on seeing the mushroom.  We pulled out a few just to be sure and those long 'roots' was another indicator of the species.  We pulled out a few more for her enough for a serving.

I remember a friend, Dr. Sepiah Muid, as an authority on this species.  I had several takes and MMSed her for confirmation too.  I was happy when her response came back in the affirmative.  We had cendawan busut with squash soup for dinner.

The nature combination that come with cendawan busut growth has eluded our mycologists to this day.  They can never get to artificially germinate cendawan busut what more to commercially grow it.  Even Dr. Sepiah, after over a decade of work on this mushroom, has to call it quits.  It is common knowledge that the cendawan busut spores will only germinate from termite's nest (now one nest is real close to home!  Call the pest busters, then I'll miss on my mushroom).  There must be some form of growth synergy between the mushroom and the termites. Further, the situation for germination will be right only with thunderstorms.  I remember us having those thunderstorms for the past few evenings.  

 The gift that came unexpectedly, Alhamdullillah.

It was stir-fried cendawan busut with loofa for today's lunch.

Incidentally our pisang tanduk was harvested on the same day. Most of the spikes seen here had gone to the neighbours.  True to my father's saying, "Tidak rugi berbudi dengan tanah - There is no loss by being virtuous to the soil".