The hunt for a fungus that is worth more than its weight in gold as a traditional medicine is transforming the Himalayan landscape on which it grows. To learn more, I have come to the in Kathmandu, Nepal, where I am watching the preparation of a tea made from yartsa gunbu, a “cure-all” fungus that may be the world’s most expensive natural resource.
Tsultrim Rabsel grinds and mixes the fungus with 16 rare herbs and medicinal plants. He hands a tea sachet to Tashi Tsering, who carefully places the grinds within. “Medicine’s ready,” he says.
These men are amchis, a Tibetan term that loosely translates to doctor. They specialise in traditional Tibetan medicine, a field that mixes science and belief and uses rare ingredients for spiritual and health tonics.
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While its price and scarcity means yartsa, or Cordyceps sinensis, hasn’t been studied much in the West, researchers in China, Nepal and India have found potential for and for , and , as well as possible antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and antiviral effects. It has also been hailed as an aphrodisiac – sometimes dubbed Himalayan Viagra – and there are real links to (although other claims, like it , are ).
To many who take yartsa, this mix of is what makes it worth more than its weight in gold, selling for around $150,000 a kilogram in China. Globally, the market is .
“Why is it attractive? Because of the idea that it’s wild and pure,” says , a specialist in Himalayan economies at the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development. “There is truth to the science, not all, but enough to make people believe. Belief is key.”
That belief is aided by yartsa’s unusual origins. It is produced when larvae of ground-dwelling ghost moths are infected with the parasitic Cordyceps fungus, which encases the caterpillars with its root-like mycelium, hence another of its names: caterpillar fungus. When the caterpillar surfaces to die, the fungus blooms with a needle-like stalk. The life cycle of the Cordyceps genus inspired the zombie-like humans in the video game and TV show The Last of Us.
The high price of yartsa – which only grows in high pastures in India, Nepal, Bhutan and China – makes harvesting it the main income for many impoverished communities here. Booming demand has improved living standards, but it is also having a .
Yartsa takes years to grow and is being harvested unsustainably. Using a pickaxe to remove the mycelium strips away the soil that the moths need from the hillside, speeding up erosion caused by climate change. Research also shows that yartsa harvests pollute rivers and result in deforestation.
Warming also has a direct impact, as less snow means less yartsa, since it needs moisture to grow. . (In Bhutan, mean winter temperatures have increased by 3.5°C to 4°C across most of yartsa’s habitat.)
Demand, habitat deterioration and climate change all contributed to the International Union for Conservation of Nature , stating the fungus had declined by at least 30 per cent over the past 15Â years due to overharvesting.
“It’s too important to local economies to stop,” says Dorji. Even and can’t stop the trend. “It’s a luxury item,” he says.
At the institute, the amchis show me pieces of yartsa that go for $10 each. Tsering offers me a steaming cup containing a mud-brown mixture that smells slightly putrid, a yartsa infusion called a . “You can take it, it will affect your body,” he says, before I ask how. “Longer sex. More energy.”
I down the drink, which tastes like cinnamon and nutmeg. But I don’t feel an energy boost or a libido surge. Not long after, I am asleep in my hotel room. But is that because this “cure-all” isn’t all it is cracked up to be or because I was so exhausted from running around Kathmandu looking for it? Maybe it is a touch of both.
