As the saying goes, “relying on the sea to eat the sea, and relying on the mountain to eat the mountain”, the villagers living in Changbai Mountain rely on the gifts on Changbai Mountain to meet their living needs. During the period of the Republic of China, mountain pickers in Changbai Mountain were the most active. They collected a magical Chaga mushroom in Changbai Mountain and could sell it at a good price to make a living. However, this kind of work is not something ordinary people can do. What is Chaga mushroom? ? Below, let the editor come to reveal the secret to you from the beginning.
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Changbai Mountain is located in the northeastern part of Jilin Province, my country, with rich activities There are many plant resources, especially wood resources that can be mined. As early as the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the wood used for the construction and renovation of the Forbidden City was taken from Changbai Mountain. In addition to wood, Changbai Mountain has a lot of treasures, which has also spawned generations of mountain pickers. The so-called mountain pickers refer to the groups who enter the Changbai Mountains for collection, such as some people logging, some hunting, but most of them also collect various wild vegetables, herbs and mushrooms. For example, the most famous ginseng in Changbai Mountain, hundreds of people flock to Changbai Mountain every year to look for ginseng; some people specialize in collecting pine nuts, which grow on pine trees more than ten meters high. Delivered to the market town for sale. However, there is another kind of mountain mining with a small number of visitors, but it is admirable.
Typically, such mountain pickers are experienced mountain pickers , especially good at climbing, because what they want to collect is Chaga mushroom, which is known as “black gold”. In the area of Changbai Mountain, the local people also call Chaga mushroom Ganoderma lucidum, but its scientific name is Inonotus obliquus, which is a plant fungus as the name suggests. Scientific research has shown that Chaga is mainly distributed in Changbai Mountain, because the temperature here is low, and the lower the temperature, the better the growth and reproduction of Chaga, and it will not freeze to death even at minus 60 degrees Celsius.
Generally speaking, Chaga is a fungus that lives on birch trees. It is generally a 20-40 cm bulge, and its outer color is brown or black, and the darker the color, the longer the growth time, and the greater its value in all aspects. Modern scientific research has shown that Chaga has more than 1,000 beneficial components, and its medicinal value is 50 times higher than the well-known ginseng and Ganoderma lucidum, and the market price per gram is more expensive than gold, so it is also named “black gold” ”, so the mountain pickers who collect Chaga also have extremely high requirements.
As mentioned above, Chaga likes cold, so Chaga grows In the middle and upper parts of Changbai Mountain, the altitude is more than 1,800 meters, so the physical strength of mountain pickers is also a big test. In addition, birch velvet grows on birch, but not at the root, nor in the middle, but on some branches at the top, so mountain pickers have to learn to climb trees, otherwise they can only wait and see when they encounter birch velvet. look. The most dangerous thing is that there are often places with birch mushrooms, which are inaccessible and overgrown with weeds. Sometimes they are covered with ice and snow. No one knows what will be below if you step down. It may be rocks or snow. The nest, and possibly even the deep hole, is very dangerous anyway.
Around November every year, mountain hunters looking for birch mushrooms come one after another. After entering the mountain, it usually takes ten days and a half months, or even longer, but they are all traveling together, that is, they can divide labor and cooperate, and they can also take care of each other. After all, no one can survive alone in the ice and snow of Changbai Mountain. For example, if there are 3 people in a team, one person is responsible for observing the environment and looking for Chaga, because Chaga grows on tree branches, and it is difficult for people with poor eyesight to find it. Therefore, those looking for Chaga must have eyesight. Excellent; then, the other one is in charge of collecting. He is required to be good at climbing. After wearing spiked shoes, he can climb up and down flexibly and freely. However, in winter, the birch has a very smooth and hard trunk, which is not something that ordinary people can climb. It can be said that The process is very dangerous, and the person who climbs the tree needs to be flexible with his hands, so he can’t disperse the chaga velvet, otherwise it won’t sell for a good price. Finally, there is another person who takes care of the logistics and takes care of their food.
It is worth mentioning that the number of Chaga mushrooms is also very small, generally looking for 2000 birch trees can only find 1 birch velvet, and if you are lucky, you can find 2 or 3. Therefore, it is enough for mountain pickers to collect 1 Chaga mushroom in one trip, but often many people return empty-handed, thinking about going into the mountains to try their luck in the coming year. As the saying goes, what is rare is precious. Under the current situation of extreme shortage of Chaga mushrooms, some black-hearted merchants have started selling fake Chaga mushrooms, which not only deceives people, but also harms health, so people hate it.
There is no doubt that Chaga is indeed a rare medicinal material that can protect our health, so the editor also hopes that experts can study The artificially cultivated Chaga can not only achieve the same effect, but also effectively reduce the market price, making it affordable for ordinary people.
References:
“Changbai Mountain Folk Story” Author: Yu Jiyuan, Publisher: Times Literature and Art Publishing House
Wen Xiucai, editor-in-chief of Wenlan Hairun Studio , This article is written: Special historical writer: Liu Lijiang