Wildfires threaten Korea's supply of beloved pine mushrooms
For pine mushroom lovers, the aftermath of recent wildfires in North Gyeongsang Province may soon reach their dinner tables. Yeongdeok, one of the counties hit hardest by the wildfires, is Korea’s top producer of pine mushrooms — also known as "songi beoseot" in Korean or matsutake. The devastation of its lush pine forests could make this prized fungus harder to find and much more expensive to enjoy. “Almost 70 percent of the pine mushroom habitats have been reduced to ashes,” Lee Sang-beom, a mushroom forager in Yeongdeok, told The Korea Times, Tuesday. "Mushroom farmers have been left speechless after the wildfires. It is extremely sad to see the pine forests and mushrooms gone. I don't know exactly how long it will take for the forests to recover, but what's sure is it would be at least 20 to 30 years." Although pine mushroom season doesn’t begin until fall, experts warn that prices could spike sharply once harvesting begins. Pine mushrooms are far from ordinary. Unlike common varieties cultivated on farms, they only grow wild, nestled in the roots of mature pine trees that
