VietNamNet Bridge – The HQGANO caterpillar fungus farm in Binh Tan District, Ho Chi Minh City, regularly holds free tours for visitors to learn about the process of growing caterpillar fungus.
VietNamNet Bridge – The HQGANO caterpillar fungus farm in Binh Tan District, Ho Chi Minh City, regularly holds free tours for visitors to learn about the process of growing caterpillar fungus.
In English, it's called caterpillar fungus. But it's better known throughout Asia by the Tibetan term, yartsa gunbu, which means "summer grass, winter worm."
This fungi (Cordyceps Sinensis) makes its living by getting inside a host insect and ultimately killing and consuming it. In this case, the insect that's invaded is the caterpillar of the ghost moth. This pinky-sized mummified caterpillar is the most expensive fungi in the world.
It is known as a medicinal mushroom, and its use has a long history in traditional Chinese medicine. The hand-collected fungus-caterpillar combination is valued by herbalists as a status symbol; it is used as an aphrodisiac and treatment for ailments such as fatigue and cancer, although such use is mainly based in traditional Chinese medicine and anecdotal evidence.
In the world, caterpillar fungi exploited in the wild is extremely rare, mainly at an altitude of 3,200 meters of the Himalayas and Tibet. Each year the output is only 80kg so the price is very high, from $60,000 to $80,000 per kilo.
Some farms in Vietnam are now able to produce caterpillar fungi in the artificial environment, including the 700sq.m farm in HCM City.
A tour through photos at HQGANO caterpillar fungus farm:
The first step, red brown rice is poured into sterilized glass jars.
Next, the jars are filled with the mixture of silkworm pupa powder, soy germ extract....
A sufficient amount of coconut juice is poured into the jar.
After being sealed, the jars are sterilized for 30 minutes, time enough to ensure the mixture issterile while still retaining the nutrients needed to grow fungi.
Next, the fungus is implanted into the jar. This is one of the most important stages, which requires high expertise of technicians. This process requires a closed, sterile room environment to ensure that the products are not contaminated.
The jars are then sealed and placed in cold rooms. A room of about 6sq.m equipped with air conditioning and temperature, humidity control, automatic light is enough to plant 2,000-3,000 jars of fungi.
During the cultivation time, technicians regularly check to eliminate defective products, damaged by mildew. If fungi jars are well cared for, the successrate is up to 99%.
After 55-60 days in the cold room, fungi develops fully and is ready for harvest.
On average 1,000 jars will produce approximately 20-25kg of fresh fungi.
The long fibers have the best quality and will be sold at a high price. The remaining parts are used to process other products such as fungi tea bags and biomass powder.
After being sorted, fungi is dried and sterilized by UV, Ozone and packaged for sale.
The farm’s director,. Duong Van Thiet,said in the past three months, the farm earned more than VND3 billion in revenue and profit margin of about 15%.
Vietnamnet.vn
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