Cordyceps Sinensis (Dong Chong Xia Cao)
1グラム数千円！？チベット高原に眠る「生きた黄金」
Description
The phantom ingredient reigning at the apex of Chinese premium dry goods/medicines. Named because a fungus parasitizes ghost moth larvae (caterpillars), staying underground as a bug in winter, and sprouting grass (mushroom) from its head in summer. Harvested only above 4000m in Tibet etc. Used in wealthy medicinal soups as an 'elixir of immortality' dramatically boosting immunity.
Classification: Premium Ingredient, Ingredient, Dry Goods, Cordyceps, Chong Cao, Traditional Medicine, Medicinal Soup, Phantom Ingredient, Immunity
Shops selling Cordyceps Sinensis (Dong Chong Xia Cao)
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The How to use section below is a general reference, not instructions from the listed shops.
How to use
Ingredients
- Cordyceps sinensis(Ghost moth larva and parasitic fungus)
Instructions
- [Typical Uses]
- [Chong Cao Dun Lao Ji (Cordyceps & Old Chicken Premium Soup)]: Place lightly washed Cordyceps (a few pieces) in a claypot with highly nutritious old chicken, goji, and jujubes, extracting essence slowly over low heat for hours. Drink the soup and eat the bug/grass parts entirely.
Learn more Substitutes, pairings, tips
Key spices
Bug part has a roasted aroma like shrimp shells; grass part has faint mushroom flavor. Adds complex earthy/animal depth to soup
Substitutes at Japanese supermarkets
(Irreplaceable. Fake the look with cheap artificially cultivated 'Chong Cao Hua')
Pairing
Old Chicken Soup / Braised Abalone / Softshell Turtle
Trivia
Because it's so expensive, fakes stuffed with lead powder for weight or similar bugs glued together flood the market. If this soup appears at a Chinese banquet, the host is staking their life (entire fortune) on entertaining you.
Eating tips & etiquette
Named 'Bug', but it's actually 'a mushroom that sucked all the bug's nutrients and mummified it'. Currently skyrocketing in price as an investment target among wealthy Chinese, said to be 'more expensive per gram than pure gold'.
Allergen
None