Plump helmet

Seldom found outside of the borders of Gildenhome the plump helmet mushroom could be described as the key agricultural product of the Dwarves. This large and nutritious quick-growing mushroom can be grown on a variety of composts including simple agricultural waste products like wood chips/sawdust, cane stalks, and other leftover farming biomass. Most varieties have a purple cap over a short but thick white base but many varieties in color and shape have been cultivated for specific qualities.

As long as a steady low temperature and high humidity environment, which happens to match many Gildenhome near-surface caves, can be maintained and enough compost can be provided plump helmets are able to provide a consistent high-yield and low-effort year-round crop production that does not require sunlight and can be easily maintained. Part of the stability of Gildenhome in the many centuries since its founding is that Gildenhome has never experienced a wide-spread famine or crop collapse unlike most of human nations within the Alexandrian Age. Most Mountainhomes have specific quotas for plump helmet mushroom production that must be maintained based on population. Plump helmet mushrooms can be dried and stored easily and their predictable and consistent harvests have insured that even in times of conflict or massive changes the basic food requirements of all major Gildenhome settlements could be met. Many farming outposts within Gildenhome are dedicated purely to growing and processing varieties of this mushroom as it is used for food for the population, feed for animals, and even contains enough sugars to be fermentable so is used as the base of most Gilden "wines" and "brandies" in place of grapes.