the.com/shiitake
a forest's slow flex, grown on dying logs into umami you can taste in the dark
means A meaty, earthy edible mushroom with a brown cap, prized in East Asian cooking and traditionally cultivated on hardwood logs.
from Straight from Japanese: shii, a type of evergreen hardwood tree (Castanopsis) whose fallen logs the mushroom famously grows on, plus take, simply meaning 'mushroom.' So the name is wonderfully literal — 'shii-tree mushroom' — a reminder that for centuries it was farmed by leaning rotting shii logs in shady groves and waiting for the forest to do its work.
- name origin
- shii tree plus take, Japanese for mushroom
- log farming
- cultivated on hardwood logs for over a thousand years
- vitamin d
- sunbathing dried caps multiplies their vitamin D
- umami source
- packed with guanylate, a natural savory amplifier
- medicinal cred
- lentinan compound studied for immune-boosting effects
king trumpet mushroom — oyster mushroom relative, tallest cultivated mushroom species reaching 6 inches
enoki mushroom — long thin variety, 2-3 inches tall, popular in asian cuisine and sold in supermarkets
maitake mushroom — hen of the woods, native to east asia, can weigh up to 100 pounds in wild form