kuditdit, kudit/kudet (bracket fungus, tree ear fungus)

Come rainy or thunder-stormy season, especially when the late afternoon rains bring a plenty of lightning and thunder, you can expect that early in the morning, an abundance of mushroom has grown in the wild, like the uong-kalaw, uong-bunton, or uong-managadu and many others. The rains and the lightning also induce edible fungi, like the kuditdit (also called "kudet" or "kudit", bracket fungus or tree ear fungus). There are some kinds of kuditdit, some are commercially grown (large ones called oyster/abalone mushroom), but the most popular and most preferred of course is the small wild and "native" kuditdit which grows on dead/rotting trees. I used to pick, as a child in Nueva Vizcaya, kuditdits on fallen mango and tamarind trees.

Wild kuditdit growing on a dead tree. Photo from Wikipedia.com

Kuditdit has also become rare nowadays, and thus it has become a kind of another exotic fare. You can usually find them sold in the market and is quite pricey but nonetheless a best seller as it is a prized companion to a savory dinengdeng/inabraw especially when partnered with wild mushrooms.

Kuditdit for sale by the glassful.

When preparing kuditdit, you have to wash/rinse it thoroughly to remove dirt, but don't squeeze it too much and just rinse it once or twice only, to preserve its natural flavor and succulence.

Kuditdit is great with paria, leaves or fruit, and with other leafy vegetables and veggie fruit like pallang and tarong.

Kuditdit with wild mushrooms, kalunay (amaranth, wild spinach) and kabatiti fruit.

The soup/broth is so good with the fusion of two wild fungi goodness, sweetened by the young kabatiti!