Underground treasure hunt

It tastes strange and others don't like it, but he treats it as a treasure. He felt that he had found a huge business opportunity and had to take a chance. See what tricks Tan Xinpei of Sichuan has to turn the unfavored minority fungus into a money-making treasure.

After lunch that day, villager Liu Shunqiong took out his old sow, and the family was going to take the sow to the nearby hills to look for a kind of treasure. It is truffles that the villagers are looking for. It is now the season for truffle harvest, and Tan Xinpei also follows the villagers into the mountains to learn about the quality of truffles this season. Truffles grow underground and are invisible to the naked eye, but sows can help.

Tan Xinpei: usually sows, because truffles contain something called androsterone. It is said that sows will arch when they smell the fragrance of truffles when they are in estrus.

In the past, people didn't know anything about truffles, but they just saw that pigs raised in the mountains would arch out a wild fungus to eat from the ground, so they named it Arthrobotrys.

Liu Shunqiong, a villager of Tuanjie Village, Heai Township, Yanbian County, Panzhihua City, Sichuan Province: in the past, we fed cattle and sheep, and pigs were released along with cattle and sheep. Now people know, to predecessors do not know, only see pigs eat to know, pigs eat people may also eat.

It is difficult for ordinary captive pigs to catch up the mountain, let alone find truffles. Liu Shunqiong's sow is often taken into the mountains by her.

Tan Xinpei: it's looking for it. You see, it may have taken that pine cone as a truffle. See, it gnawed it.

Wild truffles are found in Yunnan, Sichuan, Xizang and other places in China. Truffle growth cycle of one year, is a kind of mycorrhizal edible fungus that needs to symbiosis with specific trees, usually about 10 cm under the forest soil. Pigs rely on the attraction of the special smell of truffles, while villagers need to rely on the accumulation of experience.

Tan Xinpei: generally, they are like pine trees and sequoias. You can see that they have pine cones. We can easily find them under this tree. You see, this is what we call airplane grass. It spreads fast. Where this is not tall, not big, not luxuriant, there may be truffles below. The truffle robbed the grass of its nutrients.

Villagers told reporters that mining truffles not only takes a lot of time, but also needs luck.

Chen Shangyin, a villager of Tuanjie Village, Heai Township, Yanbian County, Panzhihua City, Sichuan Province: we live in the mountains.

Interviewer: living in the mountains.

Chen Shangyin, villager of Tuanjie Village, he'ai Xiang, Yanbian County, Panzhihua City, Sichuan Province: carry dry grain. We dig wherever there is, we look everywhere. When we see the shape of the mountain, we dig (truffles) for two days. Without it, we go until we reach it. After eating the dry food, we came back, sold (truffles) and continued to dig, right.

Although the end of the year is the season for picking truffles, it is not easy to find truffles. This day until the evening, Tan Xinpei finally found one.

Tan Xinpei: here is one. This is a stone. This is.

Interviewer: is this it?

Tan Xinpei: yes, but like this kind of soil, it's not easy to find. You see, this is (truffle).

Just as everyone was getting ready to go down the mountain, the sow suddenly stopped and seemed to have found something.

Tan Xinpei: after smelling the smell that it is interested in, it may stay here, and it may be easier for us to find it in this area.

Liu Shunqiong, villager of Tuanjie Village, he'ai Xiang, Yanbian County, Panzhihua City, Sichuan Province: here is one.

Tan Xinpei: found another one. This is okay. Let's see, it's okay, it's black, it's mature, it's already black.

Unlike ordinary edible fungi, truffles are hard. Cut the mature black truffle and you will see such a dark marbling. Truffle has a unique taste. Interestingly, some people think it smells good, while others think it smells bad.

Tan Xinpei: some people say it smells like smelly socks, old sheets, some people say it smells like body odor, others say it tastes like semen, and all kinds of feelings are different.

Interviewer: none of the smelly socks, old sheets or anything is fragrant.

Tan Xinpei: but I think the benevolent see benevolence, the wise see wisdom.

Interviewer: what do you think it smells like?

Liu Shunqiong, villager of Tuanjie Village, Heai Township, Yanbian County, Panzhihua City, Sichuan Province: I can't tell the smell.

Interviewer: the smell is hard to describe, isn't it?

Liu Shunqiong, villager of Tuanjie Village, Heai Township, Yanbian County, Panzhihua City, Sichuan Province: but when you boil it, you can smell the chicken soup is fragrant.

Chen Shangyin, a villager of Tuanjie Village, Heai Township, Yanbian County, Panzhihua City, Sichuan Province: it tastes like honey.

Interviewer: what do you think it smells like?

Tang Guoshun, a villager of Tuanjie Village, he'ai Xiang, Yanbian County, Panzhihua City, Sichuan Province: this is indescribable.

It is this indescribable taste that directly determines the price of truffles. Truffle is a famous truffle. There are mainly two varieties of black truffle and white truffle in our country. When interviewed by the reporter, the black truffle dug by the villagers sold for 320-500 yuan / kg, while the white truffle was relatively rare, and the price was about 800 yuan / kg.

Zheng Linyong, a post scientist in the technical system of the national edible fungus industry and a researcher at the Sichuan Academy of Agricultural Sciences: the fragrance of truffles is wonderful. And there is no such fragrance in our common ingredients. There is no mature truffle is not fragrant, it should be said that in the international market is worthless, but mature truffles have a special flavor. The value or price of the truffle itself is determined by its special smell. It doesn't have much to do with nutrition, it has something to do with species.

In recent years, the popularity of truffles in China has increased year by year, and the price of fresh truffles has risen from dozens of yuan per jin to several hundred yuan per jin. However, when the truffles were not worth much, Tan Xinpei decided that truffles could bring him wealth, and now everyone says that Tan Xinpei has an unusual vision.

Chen Bi, a local specialty dealer in Panzhihua City, Sichuan Province: we used to sell truffles on street corners and sold very cheaply. He promoted the product from beginning to end.

Sun Yanbin, deputy director of the Forestry Bureau of Panzhihua City, Sichuan Province: it turned out that the resource, which we thought was inconspicuous, became a bright spot in the development of our forestry industry. Mr. Tan should have contributed to the development of the truffle industry.

How on earth did Tan Xinpei do it?

This is where Tan Xinpei first found truffles. In his early years, Tan Xinpei was an art teacher and ran an advertising agency. because he was interested in catering, he switched to catering. In 2006, he worked as a planning director at a hotel in downtown Panzhihua and ran a farmhouse at the same time. One day, he found a kind of fungus wrapped in soil on the stall selling wild bacteria. His fellow villagers called it Niangguo.