Focus on a Kekchi Mushroom: Schizophyllum commune or Split Gill.
In the last mushroom article, I gave a whirlwind tour of the mushrooms I had found in the Stann Creek and Toledo Districts. In this coming series of three articles I would talk on some of the mushrooms eaten and used by the Mayans around here and give enough information on them so that all of you starved fungophiles out there have something new to try.
The common name of this fungal fructification is Split Gill and its Latin name is Schizophyllum commune. I haven’t however, been able to find out the kekchi name for it and even though it has been pointed out to me by a number of locals, none of them have been able (or willing) to call it anything other than “mushroom…good for eat.” If any readers out there recognize it and can discover its native name, please let me know.
What follows is a verbatim scientific description by the professional mycologist, David Arora (writer of my favourite mushroom identification guide), so that nobody will make a mistake in identification using my own, unprofessional description. It’s a little bit dry but then most scientific things are and the truth of the matter is that facts are more important than a good time in this situation. So here we go:
FRUITING BODY: shelf-like or with a narrowed base, tough and leathery both fresh and dry. CAP: 1-4cm broad, more or less fan-shaped (or vase-shaped if stalk is central); surface dry, densely hairy, white to grayish-white, gray, or sometimes brownish-gray when wet; margin usually lobed and inrolled in dry weather. Flesh tough, leathery, thin, pallid or grayish. GILLS: radiating from point of attachment, well-spaced, white to grayish; edges appearing split or grooved lengthwise (i.e. cuplike in cross-section), rolling back in dry weather. STALK: absent or present only as a narrowed basal point of attachment. SPORE PRINT: white; spores 3-4(6) x 1-1.5(3) microns, cylindrical, smooth.
This mushroom pretty much comes up everywhere and if you pay attention to mushrooms, you have probably seen it. I’ve found it growing throughout the bush on dead wood from little branches less than a centimetre up to big sticks five or ten centimetres in diameter. It likes to come up especially after people do a bit of slash-and-burn and there are a few charred sticks left sticking (ha, ha) around…wait for the rains and they appear as if by magic. Having said this, it pops up all the time throughout the year except maybe when it is really, really dry and you only find the dry fruit bodies from wetter times. If you use polewood around your farm for fencing or bean poles or whatever, chances are that after a few months out in the open they will be covered by these little mushrooms. Once you’ve seen it in real life and don’t happen to live in a concrete wasteland, you’ll start seeing it everywhere.
Okay, let’s talk about edibility. The guide says: “Too small and tough to be of value.” Overall, in my humble personal opinion, it is okay but not great. So, why am I telling you about it (stop wasting my time, you fool, I’m hungry for real mushrooms!)? Well, since we are all interested in broadening our cultural horizons and at the same time trying to maintain and preserve the traditions of the Kekchi as they face modernization and start adopting our great and healthy Western culinary traditions (pizza, white bread, coke, red Fanta, sausage-on-a-stick and even McDonald’s eventually…yes, let’s kill people with civilization!), let’s all try something new. According to my local source, you collect a few handfuls, boil them in water, fry them and then serve up with caldo. We just stir-fry them and they add a chewy mushroominess to a meal.
Medicinally, I know absolutely nothing about whether this species has any properties (apparently some natives in Madagascar chew it but for reasons unknown). The only thing I know about it from “the real world” is that it has been used extensively in the laboratory for genetic studies since it is easy to fruit in artificial conditions. Perhaps some eager beaver among you with nothing better to do could find out more and write an article about it.
Anyway, until we meet again, may all you fungophiles go forth, spread the spores and conquer!