Japanese Fuel Demand For Matsutakes
When summer turns to fall, the thoughts of mushroom lovers in Japan turn to the spicy aroma of matsutake.
As the crop thins out in Asia and Canada, that translates into high prices for matsutakes growing wild in pine forests high in Oregon’s Cascade Range.
“Every country has their own panic-button mushroom,” said Matt Briggs, president of Cascade Mushroom Co. in Portland, the nation’s biggest dealer in wild mushrooms. “The Italians have porcini and Amanita caesarea. The Germans are nuts about chanterelles. And the Japanese are nuts about matsutake.
“They are very specific in cuisine by the month,” Briggs said. “When it’s fall, you eat matsutake.
“As soon as it snows, nobody will eat it. If it’s too hot before that, nobody will eat it. When the whole country shifts in its mood from summer to fall - bang! - you’ve got your demand.”
A single mushroom can cost hundreds of dollars in Japan, where some believe it boosts the immune system and has some aphrodisiac qualities.
Sliced thin, matsutake is sprinkled as a condiment on a variety of traditional soup and rice dishes, where it adds a rich aroma similar to cinnamon.
“If you put all these things together, you have a wonderful gift item,” Briggs said.
Wild mushrooms of all kinds are a $1 billion business in the Northern Hemisphere, said Mike Amaranthus, a research biologist for the U.S. Forest Service in Grants Pass, Ore. In the Northwest, 90 percent of the mushrooms are picked in Oregon and Washington, with some coming from California, Idaho and Montana, as well. The harvest employed 12,000 people in 1992.
Virtually all of the $16 million worth of matsutakes picked in Oregon this year will end up three days later in markets in Japan, flown in Styrofoam crates with blue ice to keep them fresh. Japan also imports heavily from China, North Korea and South Korea, and Canada, said Jerry Larson, international trade manager for the Oregon Department of Agriculture.
When the season is rolling, five to 10 tons a day fly out of North America, Briggs said.
Prices paid to pickers in the United States have been running $10 to $12 a pound early in the season, but can quickly go into the hundreds of dollars. In 1992, they hit $640 a pound for about 30 minutes at Crescent Lake Junction, Ore.
The most highly prized are matsutakes that have just erupted from the soil. The veil has yet to break loose from the stem. As the veil separates from the stem, they quickly drop in value.
Like many wild mushrooms, the matsutake is mycorrhizal, which means it has evolved a partnership with trees without which neither one can live. The matsutake attaches itself to the roots of pine trees and tanoak. As a result, the U.S. Forest Service has been keeping close watch on mushroom harvests to see if picking damages their ecosystem.
Pickers have been gathered since August at Crescent Lake Junction, on the east side of the Cascade Range.