Maybe you weren’t tempted by the Nibble of caterpillar mushroom we served up a week ago. Today the Guardian gives you another bite at the cherry, as it were.
[T]he value of Yartsa Gunbu has increased more than ninefold since 1997, creating what mycologist Daniel Winkler calls a “globally unique rural fungal economy” on the Tibetan Plateau.
It has everything, this story — poor people, over-exploitation, lack of diversity, government meddling — and the report includes some great photographs. Is anyone, though working to cultivate or domesticate the Summer Grass Winter Worm?
Oh, and here’s some science again. And our post from three years ago. ((Are we some kind of resource, or what?))
Folks, Yes Cordyceps has been domesticated, by a US wholesaler. My PhD student Kamal Adhikari worked on this for his MSc – I’ll ask him to contact you. -WBTD.