鸡枞 (jīzōng) · termite mushroom

Meanings

1 termite mushroom
2 jicong mushroom (Termitomyces, prized Yunnan edible)

About the ingredient

菌类 Mushrooms

A wild mushroom with a grey-brown pointed cap and a long, firm white stem, picked in Yunnan in the summer rainy season. It is simmered in soup, often with chicken, or fried with chili in oil and kept in jars.

Also called 鸡㙡

Characters

(used in this mushroom name)

Examples

HSK 5

用鸡枞煮汤，鲜味像鸡肉一样。

Yòng jīzōng zhǔ tāng, xiān wèi xiàng jīròu yíyàng.

Soup made with jicong tastes as richly savory as chicken.

HSK 7-9

雨季的鸡枞是云南最珍贵的野生菌之一。

Yǔjì de jīzōng shì Yúnnán zuì zhēnguì de yěshēngjūn zhīyī.

Rainy-season jicong is one of Yunnan's most prized wild mushrooms.

Tips

culture

A symbiotic mushroom (genus Termitomyces) that grows only on active termite nests - which is why it resists cultivation and commands high prices in Yunnan wet markets. The name 鸡枞 comes from the texture: torn apart, the white flesh is stringy like chicken breast (鸡). Fried in oil with chili, it yields the famous 油鸡枞, which keeps for months and is sold in jars.