Matsutake Gohan

This autumn dish cooks rice together with thinly sliced, fragrant Tanba matsutake mushrooms. A powerful aroma rises the moment the lid comes off, and the mushroom's springy bite is said to be its defining trait — Tanba matsutake is said to be prized enough for its scent that a car carrying freshly picked mushrooms reportedly fills with fragrance. A sprig of mitsuba is often added for a finishing touch of color, and matsutake from the Yamashiro area, called Yamashiro matsutake, is said to hold its own in flavor and aroma as well.

Thinly sliced matsutake is cooked together with rice and kelp dashi, then lightly mixed and served once done. The mushroom is called by different names as it matures, and the aromatic hiraki stage is said to suit rice dishes best. Restaurants often serve matsutake in soups or sukiyaki as well, and households near the growing areas sometimes make this dish too, it's said.

As pine branches fell out of use as fuel in the Tanba region, pine forests went untended, and the resulting habitat is said to have become less hospitable to matsutake, driving a sharp drop in the harvest. The prefecture's yield, once said to top 1,200 tons a year before the war, has fallen to just a few tons in recent years. Because matsutake favors dry, lean soil, efforts to thin midstory trees and clear humus have reportedly continued to keep pine forests suitable for it, and as the mushroom grew scarce, matsutake rice is thought to have come to be seen as a luxurious autumn dish for special occasions.