```ts
export function parseConfig(text: string): Record<string, string> {
  const config: Record<string, string> = {};
  for (const line of text.split("\n")) {
    // Trim leading and trailing whitespace from the line
    const trimmedLine = line.trim();
    
    // Skip blank lines and comments starting with #
    if (!trimmedLine || trimmedLine.startsWith("#")) {
      continue;
    }
    
    // Split the line on the first occurrence of '='
    const [key, value] = trimmedLine.split("=", 2);
    
    // Trim whitespace around the key and value
    config[key.trim()] = value?.trim() ?? "";
  }
  
  return config;
}
```