Food challenge||The nutritious edible termite mushroom that grow on my fatherland, Igbo|| Parents go the extra miles to get it for their family

When talking about mushrooms, there are quite a good number of them to name. Out of these many mushrooms that are seen, few make up the edible ones.

Improved Agricultural practices has added more value in growing mushrooms most especially, the edible ones. With this improvements, edible mushrooms could now be grown at home, even for commercial reasons.

In this post I'm making, I'm presenting this particular edible mushroom that grow in my community, though it does not grow every year.

About The Termite Mushroom

Every thing under the surface of the earth has its season; Plants are included. Mushrooms fall into the family of plants which grow and are harvested in season.

For this particular mushroom, it grows every two years in my area. As I have mentioned, its name is termite mushroom. In my local language, it is called ero onyentekam. This name means thatnothing is more nutritious than it been used for cooking. The name is given to it because the mushroom is indeed every nutritious. As it has appeared this year, it would be expected to appear again between the months of March and April. It has a short time lifespan and would only grow from the soil between two weeks of the month of March and April.

Before I describe how it could be used for cooking I want to talk about how it grows naturally on its own, in my area. This mushroom grow every two years in my area. It does not grow around residential areas, it only grow in the bushes. As soon its growth from the soil is been noticed, people would go into the bushes to pluck them. Those who notice it's early growth makes more from it. They taste it early by using in making soup or just use it to prepare mushroom pepper soup.

The Termite Mushroom has a commercial Value

If there people that doesn't eat this mushroom, they are just few. So many people like this mushroom that they would be willing to pay any price to buy it. When it is been plucked out of the bushes, they would be displayed along the roadside in different quantities and different prices.

There are traders who also make much more from the mushroom when they buy it from those who plucked it out from the bush. These traders after they buying it at low prices from them, they go straight to the market and sell it at higher prices to make profit from it.

How it could be used or eaten in homes

This mushroom is highly nutritious that everyone would like to have a taste of it in their homes. Parents go the extra miles to get it for their family to have a taste of it. They buy it when seeing it on the roadside or they go directly to the market and buy it.

The steps involved to preparing it

• Step One
  As soon as it is gotten either from the bush, market or the roadside, remove the sands from its stalks.

• Step Two
  Boil enough warm water and put in the basin. Add little salt and then pour the mushrooms into the warm salt water. Wash it three to four times to ensure that the sands are totally out from it.

• Step Three
  After the washing, put it into a sieve and allow the water to drain or be removed from it.

• Step Four
  After the water finishes dropping from it, at this point, you have to decide whether to cook it as mushroom pepper soup or you fry to use it for making soup.

For using to prepare mushroom pepper soup, it could be eaten that way as it would give you an irresistible taste of nutritious sweetness that you would love to have all the time.

When you decide to use it for soup, you fry it adding some pepper, salt, seasoning cubes, onions and crayfish. After the frying you can add it to your already made soup. While making your soup, you can also add it in to the fresh soup you are making.

I don't know if this type mushroom grows in your area. Let's share more on it and how you make use of it.

I invite the following persons to participate in this contest:
@lilly1
@anthony002
@christabella