Matsutake

The matsutake (Tricholoma matsutake), the "pine mushroom," is the most prized wild mushroom of East Asia — a firm, dense fungus with a thick white stalk and a brown, fibrous-scaled cap, gathered each autumn from the floor of pine forests. What makes it extraordinary is its smell: a powerful, unmistakable perfume often described as spicy and cinnamon-like, mingling sweet pine resin, fresh fruit and a faintly savoury edge. Treasured above all in Japan, where the best specimens command among the highest prices of any food on earth, matsutake is eaten with a restraint meant to showcase that aroma — gently grilled, steamed in a clear broth, or cooked into rice.