Palm Oil is one of the most used vegetable oils in the world. You can find it in food, soap, bio-diesel, washing powder, cosmetics,etc. so everyone is consuming palm oil. Anyway, oil palm is an ugly tree to me, and I have little interest of learning it. However, I was intrigued by its “by-product”.

Pic: oil palm plantation

One day I was in a ride from Kudat back to Kota Kinabalu. I felt sleepy seeing rows and rows of boring oil palm along the way, a common sight in Kota Marudu. Then a friend asked everyone to keep an eye on the roadside stalls as she was looking for Cendawan Kelapa Sawit (Oil Palm Mushroom in Malay language).

I know villagers normally sell their farm produces such as BBQ corn, peanut, fruit and vegetables at the roadside. Oil Palm Mushroom is something new to me. According to her, Oil Palm Mushroom is not available every day so we need some luck, but it sounds like a must-buy to her. After scanning a few stalls, we stopped at a stall that looked promising.

And yes, this stall was selling Oil Palm Mushroom at RM2 (≈USD0.60) for each small pack. Look yummy..

Oil Palm Mushroom comes in different size and shape (and species?), it looks more like fungus though. I think Oil Palm Mushroom is just a general nickname for all types of edible mushroom collected from oil palm.

Oil Palm Mushroom is a delicacy and you can just cook it like normal vegetable. I never find Oil Palm Mushroom for sale in city market. Guess you have to look for it in countryside that has oil palm plantation nearby (and probably better chance during wet season).

The same stall was also selling edible oil palm for the same price. Interesting, I think it is the soft core of oil palm trunk. As banana trunk is edible too, it makes sense.

Pic: girl villagers return from oil palm plantation, probably with harvested mushroom in their baskets. Some mushroom species are poisonous, so I advise you not to collect it yourself. 🙂

If you want to buy, next time just pay attention to the roadside stall when you are in Kota Marudu (somewhere near SMK Bengkongan high school, approximate location).

Have you seen Oil Palm Mushroom sold in other location? Please share with me.

Photos taken in Kota Marudu, Sabah, Malaysia Borneo