Reference point
Smell a freshly picked, unwashed termite mushroom.
Do this before you read on. An entry only works when you have just smelled the thing.
Earthy, damp, lightly sweet, with a clear savoury, protein-rich layer. It reads closer to meat than to a plant.
That savoury layer is what sets it apart from every cultivated mushroom. Termite mushrooms grow only naturally around termite mounds and cannot be farmed, and their smell reflects that environment.
After washing, the earthy part is lost and the entry becomes much harder to smell. Smelling it before washing is essential.
How to smell it
Pick or buy mushrooms with soil still on them. Smell the stem first, then the cap. The stem is stronger because it is closer to the source. Wash them and smell again to see what has been lost.
Why this one is hard
Because the termite mushroom season is very short and depends on rain, so most people smell it only a few times in their lives. Not enough repetition to remember it firmly.
Don’t confuse with
This entry
Termite mushroom
Earthy family
The termite mushroom has a clear savoury layer and an earthy note from the termite mound; straw mushroom is fainter and purely mushroom alcohol.
Scientific note
Mushrooms in general are rich in 1-octen-3-ol, the compound behind the typical mushroom smell. Termite mushrooms also contain nitrogen compounds and free amino acids at high levels, and that is the source of the savoury layer. Their strong umami comes from the same group of compounds.
In Vietnamese life
Termite mushrooms appear after the first rains in the south and the Central Highlands, usually at dawn. They fetch very high prices, and hunting them is a seasonal trade that depends on remembering where the termite mounds were the year before.