Holy Matsutake!

I would be curious of trying Matsutake. My boyfriend once bought me as a present for my birthday a huge black truffle, which I don't know how much he paid (I hope less than the most expensive Matsutake... ), but it was money well spent. We ate it for months and every single dinner was a feast. Besides I tend to have very vivid memories of food, so yes, I am ready to spend for getting nice memories, the way people will plash out for going to Disneyland and the likes..

Are the mushrooms on a regular shelf in the grocery store? Or are they kept in a special area so people don't poke and prod them?

I'm quite cheap, so that (even the cheapest one) is way too expensive for me. Even though I here and there buy food by internet and I like to eat healthy, I don't spent a lot for food.

Wow! That's expensive!!! You know, I don't think I've ever spent THAT much on anything. I would love to buy me some truffles to play with in my kitchen. I've probably spend the most on very expensive scotch :)

Hi, Maki. This is really interesting. I'm just wondering if there's a specific reason these seem to be packaged with limes beyond aesthetics.

If I had a lot of money I would probably spend a bit on unusual luxury foods but I'm in no position to consider it at the moment. Maybe some day. My mother did get real-deal caviar for us to try before her wedding and I've tasted various sorts of truffles but that's about it. I think I'd like to try really excellent champagne if money were no object, although that's not a food.

Wow! When I lived there about 15 years ago, a packet the size of the one with three matsutake in your photo was going for about 10,000 yen and at the time I thought that was expensive. I can't believe how much people will keep paying! Sugoi!

This isn't a response to your question, but it is relevant. When I was a child in Japan, my father's Army division held annual Matsutake Hunts for the soldiers, civilian workers and their families. I remember driving out to pine-covered hills (hence the "matsu", yes?), being divided up into two teams, and spending a sun-dappled Autumn day sniffing matsutakes out from under the red carpet of pine needles.

Reading your post, and seeing the eye-poppingly, jaw-droppingly outrageous prices makes me wish I had been a bit more prescient and entreprenurial as a nine-year-old. If I could have only known and freeze-dried those puppies for later use; I'd be sitting pretty!

I just finished a braise of matsutake and nappa that was wonderful. For those that haven't tried matsutake, don't disparage it because it's expensive. It really does have a unique flavor and is wonderfully fragrant. Whether it's worth hundreds of dollars/yen, I'll never know. Living in wet Washington state, there is an abundance of amazing mushrooms. This year the price range for freshly foraged natsutake is between $10-20 a pound. In the grocery store it's up to $80 for the perfect little matsutake buds.

I'd say the most expensive foodstuff I've ever purchased was caviar (sturgeon roe) for $40 per ounce. This was a present for my mom. Luckily, I live in an area that has my favorite seasonal foodstuff relatively abundant and relatively cheap. My two favorite fall foods, matsutake and salmon roe.

We used to get matsutake sent to us by Japanese friends who lived in the Pacific Northwest of the US where they grow. This was before they were discovered by the gourmet crowd. I just love these mushrooms and they evoke wonderful childhood memories. They defined the start of Fall. We used to get them for free, but I would pay these prices if I had to. The best prices are at the upscale mainstream markets here in California at maybe $20-30/lb., but the quality is not so good (often flat flavor). Local Japanese markets are a bit better, but cost maybe $80-90/lb. The best were still the gratis ones from friends (maybe it was just knowing that they came from friends?).

I also liked to eat it in matsutake gohan, but I was just in Korea where it was prepared in Bulgogi. Thanks for posting this. Now I have to go out and buy some, as I have not done so yet this year.

About buying expensive food... I usually fork out the extra dough to get things like organic fruits and vegetables, grass fed beef, and wild-caught salmon. It is usually worth the price for higher quality taste, texture, and color, as well as the higher benefits/lower risks to our health. As for one-shot, hundred dollar meals with exquisite dishes and unique ingredients... I leave that to my dad when he wants to splurge :D

Natsukashi~! Just looking at these pictures make my legs hurt. The town I used to live in Akita had an annual "Matsutake Marathon". Apparently the region used to have a lot of them, but now the winners' mushrooms are imported from Korea :P At the end of the race, everyone chowed down on some matsutake gohan, which tasted great, but I get the feeling I would have scarfed down anything at that point!
As for the name, I'm leaning more towards the pine part because of the kanji. And couln't "take" transleted to luxurious?
Guess I'll have to look for something to fix this craving...

In terms of health, this item is a YES.

A friend of mine, she and her husband are in the matsutake business. We're located in the States, and every year they harvest a huge quantity from the wild mountains--then ship to Japan. But anyway.

They're in their 40s and still have not had a child. So three years ago they finally decided to go for it. Obviously that meant >huge< risk for down syndrome. But she ate matsutake for around 4 months during her pregnancy. The baby was not only perfectly healthy, but when she was born, she had a whole head of thick hair right from the womb. I'm not talking about a thin layer of fluff; it was comb-able. There is something nutritionally insane about these mushrooms.

Living in Hong Kong we are lucky enough to get the best from around the world, flown to our door (HK doesn't have much arable land and the quality from China can be questionable).

We get a huge amount of Japanese fresh food, including Matsutake. My splurge is Japanese apples, especially the large Mutsu and Sekai Ichi, we pay HKD62 (USD$8 Eur5.70) for each apple! Expensive but the taste is amazing.

We are lucky enough to get 4 or 5 varieties of Japanese apples depending upon the season, including the ones that have the so called "honey" on the inside. Very different and sweet.

This comment is a little late (it seems the site is letting comments through again!) but here it goes:

I bought Matsutakes here in Vancouver (Washington, NOT B.C.) for $6 per pound. And that was for the good quality, young ones. The mushroom guy at the farmer's market was selling lower grades for $3 per pound. He had lots of them left toward the end of the day.

There is (was?) a lot of matsutakes out in the woods this year.

Gregg

We've had a bumper crop of them this year in the forests on the west coast of British Columbia. I bought a huge one the other day at Fujiya Market in Vancouver for six dollars. We made matsutake gohan and used them ina duck gyoza nabe. The flavour they imparted to the broth was out of this world!

I would probably do it once, just for the experience -- especially after having read your article :)

I would be mostly worried about not preparing it well...

Oh my goodness! I'm so glad I found this site!

I live in Colorado and remember matsutake hunting with my Dad. The Japanese community here is small, and the matsutake hunting grounds of each family was a closely guarded secret. I remember loading up bags of these heavenly-scented morsels. They only grow under certain red pines in the northern woods. My father taught me to harvest them gently, doing as little damage to the pine needles surrounding them, and leaving some for the deer to eat.

My mother would freeze-dry some to send to relatives in Japan, and we would feast on Matsutake gohan, Fried matsutake, matsutake soup... and during one particularly abundant season, my mom made these luscious matsutake pickles in 5 gallon jars! I wish I knew the recipe, they kept for years and tasted better with age. I believe she used vinegar, shoyu, kombu, red peppers, salt and sugar.

In the 1990s a lot of Koreans moved to Colorado and found out about the matsutake. There would be whole families of them up there with shovels and plows, just plundering the forest...and selling the mushrooms to Asian grocery stores.

Many of the matsutake hunting areas disappeared...they had ruined the natural environment for the precious mushroom.

Thank you for those gorgeous matsutake photos! Now I'm going to look online for some for sale!

sir, my name is venkat from india i want detels of mastsutsks mushroom cultivetion methads .spown or spores. this mushroom growing what ciymet condition is it posibul to growing indoor tanking you

venkat.b

WOW. I am blown away. I live in Washington State USA and harvested about 50 individual matsutake mushrooms last fall. I guess I could've made a fortune, but instead I dried them and use them to make very nourishing stocks. Love and light, Dryflour

What does the difference of closed caps and opened caps?

its as if looks to me that the closed caps arent mature yet and the opened one are the biggest and mature.