Nakhon Ratchasima Villagers Forage Sweet Honey Mushrooms for Income
Villagers in Wang Nam Khiao, Nakhon Ratchasima, are collecting and selling honey mushrooms that thrive during the rainy season. The bud‑sized fungi are prized for their crunchy, sweet taste and fetch about 200 baht per kilogram. Experts warn that proper identification is essential, as some wild mushrooms are poisonous.
In many forest areas of Wang Nam Khiao District, Nakhon Ratchasima Province, various types of mushrooms continue to emerge for villagers to collect and sell for extra income due to continuous rain.
Prasit Tangprasert, a reporter from Khao Sot newspaper, interviewed Thawarat Chan Saengsai, 59, a resident of Sub Tao village in Udomsap Subdistrict, Wang Nam Khiao District, who said that during this rainy season, wild mushrooms are sprouting in many varieties. The honey mushroom is one of the tasty types, especially the bud stage, about thumb-sized, crunchy and sweet, making it very popular.
Honey mushrooms come in many forms: some resemble Japanese straw mushrooms with long, slender stems and small umbrella-like caps, all yellow; others have thick white stems and small purple-tinged caps.
Identifying them requires considerable expertise, so if unsure, one should definitely not collect them for consumption. They appear during the rainy season and emerge a few days before the 'hed ra ngok' mushroom, serving as a sign that where honey mushrooms grow, the hed ra ngok will follow the next day in the same spot.
Honey mushrooms can be used in many dishes: stir-fried with oyster sauce, tom yum soup, spicy mushroom curry, butter‑fried, or deep‑fried. Currently, the price of bud‑stage honey mushrooms is about 200 baht per kilogram.
