On September 15, a sunny day, led by the instructive
teacher, we four students of the project group of “Tongjiang – the Town
of Chinese Tremella” in Huoju Middle School, after taking 2-hour mountain
road, finally arrived at Zhang Yunfen’s home (which is located at 5th
commune, 2nd village, Fuyang Town, Tongjiang County, Sichuan Province)
to inspect the harvest of tremella. Aunt Zhang’s home is located at
the golden land of tremella production, where is of beautiful scenery,
abundant plants and animals. The place is almost a half-virgin forest
because there are little people around. It is the humid and natural
place where produces the world famous Tongjiang Tremella.
When we first met Aunt Zhang, she led us to the side
room for inspecting and chatting::
Zhang Yunfen: The climate of this year is really
pleasant for tremella. We anticipate 150 catties of tremella of high
quality this year.
Zhang Hao: Aunt Zhang, how do you sell so much tremella after harvest?
And What about the price?
Zhang Yunfen: There are many businessmen from all
over the country coming to buy tremella, and the price is much better
than before. The price this year is estimated at over 100 Yuan per catty.
In the past, we had to carry the tremella to Fuyang by taking several
hours of mountain road and always got a lower price.
Pan Yue: Aunt Zhang, I see the tremella in the side
room is white, but why the packed one is golden?
Zhang Yunfen: Ha…ha, you can’t know. Fresh tremella
is white. During long-term growth process, there may be a lot dust and
spot in it, so we have to rinse it in the river at the foot of mountain
after picking, and because the river water is all natural, the rinsed
tremella is somewhat special compared with that in other places. When
rinsing, you must hold proper intensity – you must clean it thoroughly
but avoid ruining it, otherwise it will be harder to sell.
Yangyang: Aunt Zhang, how do we to separate good tremella
from the bad?
Zhang Yunfen: First, you should look at its color.
If the tremella is in an unusual white color or with specially thick
meat, it has been probably steamed by ground rice and sulfur. The tremella
with more ears is not better, so we should choose that with less ears.
Now the natural tremella is promoted, so no one will steam it with sulfur,
otherwise, the tremella will hardly sell. Moreover, it has been strictly
prohibited by the government, and the tremella businessmen will never
want to do it if they want to do the business further.
Liu Tong: Aunt Zhang, would you like to tell us the
planting process?
Zhang Yunfen: Sure. First, we should cut some oaks,
and then scatter the seeds on the trees with special tools. When the
temperature, humidity and sunshine are all pleasant, tremella will grow
out from the tree branches. After harvesting, you can reserve the tree
branches for reusing until the nutrition is consumed and tremella is
not so good. Then you can use the branches for fuel. When tremella grows
out, you should take good care of it. Then you will pick it and rinse
in the river. And you can sell it after drying. Now the old method left
by older generations is still popular in our village, because the tremella
processed in this way is natural and delicious
Pan Yue: Aunt Zhang, what difficulties have you encountered
in growing tremella and how do you solve them?
Zhang Yunfen: There are mainly two kinds of difficulties.
The first one is that tremella count much on weather. Once the weather
is bad, we can get little tremella. It can’t be said that we can count
on a good harvest when tremella grows out. The year before last, owing
to the rainy days, the harvested tremellas were rotten (Zhang’s eyes
are filled with tear when she says this). The second, in the past when
we got a good harvest, dealers always offered very low prices, and we
had to sell the tremella at a sacrifice. Now the situation has been
changed, our tremella is precious and we have no trouble selling it,
which will be certainly attributed to the consideration of government.
Zhang Yunfen: I will take you to pick and rinse tremella,
and let you experience the life of tremella farmers yourselves.