Balo mushrooms, or simply balos, were a type of mushroom found only on the heavily polluted Core Worlds planet Balosar. There, they were grown on farms run by the massive corporations that controlled the world and refined into the chemical ixetal cilona.
By the reign of the Galactic Empire, this was the most famous industrial operation on Balosar. The mushrooms were also edible, and the Artiodac chef Strono Tuggs included a recipe using balo mushrooms in his third cookbook, The Ultimate Cookbook, when it was published in 35 ABY.
Balo mushrooms, also referred to simply as balos, were a type of mushroom that thrived on the heavily polluted Core Worlds planet Balosar, the only world upon which they could be found. They could be refined into the chemical narcotic ixetal cilona. They were also edible to members of the Artiodac species when sautéed.
The chemical ixetal cilona was refined from balo mushrooms and used to make death sticks (pictured).
By the reign of the Galactic Empire, the refinement of balo mushrooms into ixetal cilona was the most famous industrial operation on Balosar. What little of the polluted world was not covered in factories or urban sprawl was used for balo mushroom farms that could extend far underground. These farms were run by the massive corporations that controlled Balosar, such as BioTech Industries and Fergriss Pharmaceuticals, and were protected by heavy security including enforcement droids, patrol craft, and large squads of armed guards. Once harvested, the coveted mushrooms would be refined in towering factories within Balosar's cities, with ixetal cilona then being used to produce everything from interrogation drugs to addictive narcotics like death sticks.
Strono Tuggs was surprised to find balo mushrooms thriving on Balosar.
Competing corporations would regularly hire teams of deniable assests to target their competition's balo mushroom growing fields, stealing the produce, sabotaging the operation, or even destroying the farm all together. Many members of the Balosar species—who were native to the eponymous planet and often caught in its web of corporate corruption—were tempted to take part in these quick and dirty corporate espionage jobs in order to earn fast credits while hindering the machinations of one of the corporations that controlled their homeworld.
During a culinary tour of the galaxy that he made between 34 ABY and 35 ABY, the Artiodac chef Strono Tuggs did not expect to find anything growing on Balosar during a visit but was surprised to learn of the balo mushroom. He later included a recipe that made use of balo mushrooms in his third cookbook, The Ultimate Cookbook, which was published in 35 ABY. In the book, he described the mushrooms as flavorful with a terrific taste, stating that he would rather sauté the fungus with butter and herbs than consume it as a narcotic, as it allowed him to experience the taste without negative side effects.
In the current Star Wars canon, balo mushrooms were first mentioned in Cyphers and Masks, a 2018 supplement for the Star Wars: Age of Rebellion roleplaying game published by Fantasy Flight Games. The mushrooms originated in the Star Wars Legends continuity, where they were first mentioned in the 2006 reference book The New Essential Guide to Alien Species, which was written by Ann Margaret Lewis and Helen Keier.
Cremini mushrooms were used to represent balo mushrooms in an out-of-universe recipe.
The 2023 canon cookbook Star Wars: The Ultimate Cookbook, which was written by Jenn Fujikawa and Marc Sumerak, included a recipe for a balo mushroom dish that used cremini mushrooms to represent the fungus in the out-of-universe recipe. The recipe also used unsalted butter, shallots, minced garlic cloves, fresh thyme, basil, paprika, kosher salt, black pepper, grated parmesan cheese, and chopped, fresh parsley.
- Cyphers and Masks
- Star Wars: The Ultimate Cookbook