Now that it’s October, fall is slowly beginning to creep up on Japan, which means seasonal favorite dishes including pumpkin, sweet potato, and mushroom will again be arriving on dinner tables across the land in no time. As for the lattermost, people from the countryside are more likely to pick or grown their own rather than buy mushrooms from the supermarket, and some varieties like matsutake can easily retail for a few hundred dollars.
Unfortunately matsutake and other kinds of mushrooms don’t fetch quite as high of a price in China, but while one man was gathering mushrooms, he stumbled across something that was worth much more: a giant bees’ nest.
While mushroom picking in Hunan Province, China, a man named Wu came across an enormous beehive sitting in a tree, reporting to have measured 1.5 meters (approx. 4.9 feet) and weighing 78 kilograms (172 pounds), although the source below claims it was only 40 kilograms (88 pounds).
Most of us at RocketNews24 would run like heck at the sight of such a monster nest, but instead Wu enlisted the help of two friends to help smoke out the bees and carry the hive back with him, in order to profit off his lucky find.
Some might scoff at the idea of risking getting stung just to make a little extra cash, but no doubt they did the area a favor by getting rid of some unwelcome guests that could have been potentially been dangerous for other visitors.
According to other news outlets, the nest was bought by a businessman from Changsha City for an undisclosed amount, though given the hive’s size it is likely to have been a pretty penny indeed.
In more rural areas of Japan, bees and hornets often make nests in the attics of older houses, and there is a growing need for public and private removal services. If you’re brave enough to go for it, this might be the kind of lucrative career you’ve been looking for!
Source: worldfood, Facebook/CCTVNews
Feature/top image: Facebook/CCTVNews, edited by RocketNews24