Edible orchids: gourmet cheese of the Inca highlands utilizing orchid pseudobulbs

摘要

In 1995, eric christenson, PHD, and I were met at the airport in Cusco, Peru by Miss Danitza Moscoso who was studying orchids at the Vargas Herbarium in Cusco. Her intense enthusiasm and artistic capabilities caught our interest. When I discovered that this lithe, slender, attractive young woman was an accomplished athlete who was comfortable donning tree-climbing spikes to ascend the tallest trees to observe and collect orchids, I was determined to help in some small way to interest her in makinga contribution to Peruvian orchidology by creating line drawings and herbarium specimens. Since that time, Moscoso has sent live orchid plants from the montane rainforests below Cusco and also from western and drier climes toward Abancay and on to Lima for cultivation in its benign atmosphere for subsequent identification on flowering. One accompanying note giving locality data of one collection offered an intriguing bit of information that captured my curiosity tremendously. For a short period during my extended mushroom-growing career, my wife and I owned two lovely Jersey cows and I learned to make cheddar cheese, coon cheese. Latin American white cheese with acid yogurt as a starter and several experimental types that defy description. Danitza reported that two species of orchids were reportedly used in cheese making by indigenous members of a distant subsistence community in which the orchids could be found. This conversation was sufficient to sharpen my curiosity. At my behest, Moscoso returnedto the site to get full details and her lucid account follows.