I'm going to try this Mapo Tofu recipe because it sounds really tasty based on reading the ingredient list (I'll have to hunt around for certain ingredients though).
I discovered this amazing thing today about Stinkhorn fungus (Phallus impudicus). It's known to be edible in my part of the world, but only the immature fruiting body (the "egg") is used. People would scoff at the idea of using the mature fruit. And yet in China, this is an entirely common thing, usually dried and later put into soups (with chicken seeming to be a favorite combination). For a Scandinavian person like me, this is entirely exotic food and fascinating. It reminds me also of how advanced and complex Chinese cuisines are. And of course there's more: The fungus is not only eaten, it's eaten so much, that it is actively farmed in open fields (under bamboo, for example) and in greenhouses. The attached picture here is from a production in Guizhou province (Shuiyanbacun), where they in high season of the summer harvest around 500 kg per day of this fungus. (For a seemingly below-average hourly wage of 10 yuan, but that's another story). The fungus is a saprophyte, so I assume they grow it on some kind of organic matter. Want to see more? Go search for 又名竹下菌. #phallusimpudicus#stinkhornfungus#mushroomcultivation#cooking#fungi#mushrooms#chinesecuisine#mycophile#mycology