In India, button mushrooms, typically used in home kitchens, cost about ₹200/kg. The exotic shiitake mushrooms peppered in Chinese gravies and broths at fine-dining Asian restaurants amount to ₹1,650/kg; while India’s most prized Gucchi mushrooms from Kashmir, draw a hefty ₹40,000/kg. Compared to these, the world’s costliest mushroom, Yartsa Gunbu, grown in the Himalayas, will set you back by a whopping ₹15 lakh/kg.
Yartsa Gunbu AKA Caterpillar Fungus Grows In The Himalayas
Popular for its vitamin D dose, water content, and protein, mushrooms are a household favourite. The versatile edible fungi can be turned into a rich curry, tossed in broths, and even sauteed with cheesy pasta. In the world of exotic and expensive mushrooms, one fungi grown in the Himalayas takes the cherry, cake and even the candles. That’s Yartsa Gunbu, also known as Caterpillar Fungus.
Mushrooming at an altitude of 3000 to 5000 metres in the Himalayan region of Bhutan, Tibet, Nepal and India, one kilogram of Yartsa Gunbu would cost about ₹15 lakh/kg. The reason it’s called the Caterpillar Fungus is that it actually grows out of the caterpillar. The fungi get inside the host insect and ultimately kill it, even consuming it.
Over a period of time, the fungi slowly digest the caterpillar from within. That’s the reason why it’s called Caterpillar Mushroom, and is actually a mummified caterpillar.
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Believed To Be An Aphrodisiac In Chinese & Tibetan Medicine
Yartsa Gunbu’s prices don’t compete with other mushroom variants. Rather, it competes with the costs of gold, diamond and rare earth metals. What makes this mushroom hugely sought after by the elites is that it’s believed to be an aphrodisiac. Believed to have health benefits like strengthening lungs and kidneys, it’s used in Chinese medicine as well.
It finds a special mention in the 15th-century Tibetan medicinal text named ‘An Ocean of Aphrodisiacal Qualities.’ Over the years, it has become a status symbol to have Yartsa Gumbu making it on dinner tables. Yartsa Gunbu is consumed with meat, chicken or duck dishes, and even as a dried powder that’s brewed with tea.
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Now that you know all about the world’s most expensive mushroom, Yartsa Gumbu, does this leave you intrigued?
Cover Image Courtesy: Wikipedia/ Hagen Graebner
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