Daily Current Affairs

GI tag for Gucchi Mushroom

Current GK (RAS) Geography

Jammu and the Kashmir government sought a GI label for Gucci mushrooms. Gucchi mushrooms are expensive and good for health. The price of 500 grams of Gucchi mushrooms is 18,000 rupees. Recently, GI tags were provided to saffron in Jammu and Kashmir.
Gucchi mushroom is a fungus belonging to the Morchellaceae family. They are light yellow, with large ridges and pits on the hat. They grow on large white stems. Gucchi mushrooms are called "Thuntoo" locally.
Gucchi mushrooms prefer limestone-based soils. They also grow in acid soil. Gucci mushrooms are usually found in early spring.
They are called "May mushrooms" in North America. The fruiting time of mushrooms varies from February to July. In Canada, they only appeared after June.
Gucci mushrooms cannot be grown commercially. They grow in the coniferous forests of North Akanchar, Himalayas, Chamu and Kashmir. It takes villagers several months to collect these mushrooms, dry them and bring them to the market.