AMONG China's culinary treasures of the forest, the mushroom is king and its popularity increases as people seek its nutritional benefits and varied tastes, from robust and earthy to delicate and subtle. Yao Minji takes a bite of the mushroom.

Shan zhen hai wei (山珍海味), or literally "mountain precious and ocean taste," is the Chinese superlative describing a great meal of the tastiest and most delicate dishes prepared with the rarest ingredients.

Shan zhen, the first half of the phrase, refers to precious foods from the mountains, where space, fresh air, mineral-rich soil and pure river water produce wild animals, vegetables and herbs with firm texture and savory taste.

In the old times, the term included rare animals such as wild bear, deer or Chinese forest frogs. Now, due to animal protection laws, shan zhen commonly refers to all kinds of fungus (all mushrooms are fungus, not all fungi are mushrooms) grown in mountain areas.

China has more than 900 varieties of edible mushrooms (mogu 蘑菇), which are gaining even more popularity, due to the increasing concerns for food safety and health.

"My mom has definitely been buying more mushrooms in past two years, after my father was diagnosed with high blood pressure and high cholesterol. She cooks mushrooms with all kinds of meat to reduce the meat portion," says Jeremy Jiang, one of many Chinese who have been eating more mushrooms.

At the doctor's suggestion, she also adds wood ear fungus (mu'er 木耳) into whatever soup she cooks everyday and finds it actually goes with any soup.

Edible mushrooms, especially wild ones from the mountains, have always been popular on Chinese dinner tables and are significant ingredients in traditional Chinese medical recipes. Written records of cooking and healing with mushrooms date back more than 2,000 years. Non-mushroom fungi were also known to cooks and healers long ago.

Modern scientific research has found that various kinds of mushrooms contain certain active compounds and antioxidants that fight inflammation and also may help in prevention and treatment of cancers, among other ailments.

"Chinese families are eating more mushrooms because they are high in protein and low in fat or cholesterol. They are easy to prepare and cook. Those grown in deep mountain areas also contain a variety of beneficial micro-elements, which are difficult to get from daily meals alone," Fu Kang, a Shanghai-based nutritionist, tells Shanghai Daily.

In addition to its nutritional and medical benefits, mushrooms are also known for their distinctive fragrance and a variety of tastes that have been described as woodsy, earthy, smoky, brothy and even delicate, a bit sweet, meaty or oyster-like (oyster mushrooms). Texture can be meaty, chewy, velvety, even nutty. Fragrance, taste and texture come together and create a pleasant, and long-lasting after-taste.

The savory taste and aroma intensify the flavor and taste of ingredients that are cooked with mushrooms, making them a favorite side-dish of chefs around the world.

In China, common dishes include mushrooms stir-fried with pork, mushroom chicken soup, mushroom stir-fried with chicken slices, mushrooms stir-fried with leafy vegetables, among others.

Rare and costly

Many diners also appreciate dishes made with mushrooms only, such as a stir-fry of a mix of different mushrooms, in order to appreciate the simple, delicate taste. Some mushrooms can also be roasted.

For those who want to appreciate the pure umami of mushrooms, the Mushroom Hotpot Cuisine on Caobao Road in Minhang District is one of very few venues where a platter of wild mushrooms is provided for hot pot.

The mushroom-rich menu includes rare and costly types, such as matsutake and the cockscomb mushroom, in addition to more common and less expensive ones such as oyster mushroom.

Matsutake is a kind of mycorrhizal (a fungus forming a symbiotic relationship with a plant host) mushroom with a distinctive aroma. It is also known as the pine mushroom because it grows under pine trees and its mycelium, or mass of branching filaments, attaches to the tree roots, absorbing a pine flavor.

Matsutake from red pine trees is especially popular in Japanese cuisine and considered a luxury. Prices have soared since Japan's production dropped due to pests. Imports from China's Yunnan Province have soared. Japanese chefs usually simply steam matsutake with rice or add it into soup with very light spices.

Gourmands generally recommend cooking matsutake with the simplest methods to fully appreciate the spicy-aromatic fragrance and taste. It is steamed or roasted without spices, or cooked in soup and quickly boiled in a hotpot.

It wasn't a common ingredient in Chinese recipes until people learned of its popularity in Japan. It quickly was added to menus.

Lion's mane mushroom, or monkey's head mushroom in Chinese (hou tou gu 猴头菇), is the more traditional "luxury" mushroom in Chinese recipes. Written records date back more than 1,000 years, mostly from royal kitchens, indicating it was rare and precious, affordable only by the wealthy. It became more common only in the past 20 to 30 years when it was successfully cultivated.

Cockscomb mushroom, or ji zong jun (鸡枞菌), is only found in China and is named for its cockscomb shape and texture similar to that of chicken. It's also crunch and tastes a bit like chicken. It is commonly available as a dried snack, often mixed with slices of chicken or Yunnan ham.

Unadulterated fresh mushrooms from unpolluted mountain areas are widely used in Yunnan, Heilongjiang and Guizhou provinces. Yunnan is particularly rich in production of both wild and cultivated mushrooms; more than 800 of the more than 900 edible mushrooms in China can be found in mountains of Yunnan.

Many wild fungus, with firm texture and refined flavor, are widely cultivated to meet demand. They include the king trumpet mushroom; enokitake, also known as golden noodle mushroom or velvet stem; and wood ear, or black fungus.

Many Yunnan dishes, usually slightly salty and spicy, use a mix of different mushrooms to intensify the taste. The Legend Taste Yunnan Folk Cuisine on Kangding Road in Jing'an District features a mushroom dish called Zhu Tong Shan Zhen, or Mountain Precious in Bamboo Pots, which contains various mushrooms and broth, roasted in a long bamboo container.

The restaurant is furnished with wooden tables and blue table cloths, as well as ethnic arts and crafts from the province.

It has the feel of a farmer's home. Many other dishes contain mushrooms, such as niu gan jun (cow's liver mushroom 牛肝菌) stir-fried with frog's legs, or two kinds of mushrooms boiled with sea bass.

While Yunnan cuisine is salty and spicy, Guizhou cuisine is often known for its balance between sour and spicy that stimulates the taste buds and appetite.

Qian Zhuang on Wuzhong Road in Minhang District uses many different kinds of mushrooms, such as popular matsutake chicken soup, combining the spicy odor of fresh matsutake and the umami of chicken.

A mushroom pot featuring a mixture of different fungi is also available, in addition to many fish and beef dishes that also contain tasty and aromatic mushrooms.

Mushroom Hotpot Cuisine 菌道菌菇火锅料理

Address: 1/F, 1539 Caobao Rd

Tel: 3455-3966

Legend Taste Yunnan Folk Cuisine 滇道云南特色料理

Address: 1025 Kangding Rd

Tel: 5228-9961

Qian Zhuang 黔庄

Address: 933 Wuzhong Rd

Tel: 2428-8860