Book Description

Mushrooms are a staple of a variety of different culinary traditions and one of the few fungi that we are happy to see when we look inside our refrigerators. Although historically humans have consumed a diverse array of mushrooms for nutritional and medicinal purposes, it is only in recent years that this diversity has been brought to the foreground of culinary practice. As commercial cultivation improves, and global markets expand, the variety of readily accessible mushrooms has increased substantially. This can be daunting for the novice mushroom consumer, who is faced with a staggering number of foreign fungi to wade through. When approached with an adventurous spirit, mushrooms can be an exciting, and delicious exploration of a veritable garden of earthly delights.Shiitake mushrooms, also known as Chinese, oak, black forest, and golden oak mushrooms, is more readily available worldwide than other Asian mushrooms. They have a distinctive umbrella-shaped cap with a thin, woody stem. Like portabellas, shiitakes range in color from tan to dark brown and have open "veils," or visible gills. They have a soft, slightly spongy texture, and a strong, meaty, woody flavor. They are an excellent vegetarian meat substitute, and have long been used in this capacity in Asian cuisine. Shiitakes are most often stir fried, but are also used in pasta dishes. While their stems are usually removed because of their tough texture, they can be boiled to make strong, rich stocks.Shiitake is an edible mushroom that grows on wood from a variety of tree species. Due to its ease of cultivation and its pungent flavor, Shiitake is being considered as an alternative crop in many areas of the United States. Shiitake have been used in the Orient for about 2000 years, but have only been commercially cultivated since 1940. About 160,000 metric tons are produced annually in Japan, half of which is dried and exported. It represents a two billion dollar industry which employs about 200,000 people.In the United States, shiitake is used in oriental restaurants and is often sold in oriental, gourmet and health food stores. Over $15 million of Japan's shiitake mushroom production during 1984 was exported to the U.S. The demand for Shiitake is increasing as consumers are being introduced to the mushroom which is more chewy, aromatic and flavorful than the common button mushroom. Over 2.1 million pounds of shiitake was produced in this country during 1986 and nearly 3 million pounds in 1987.As an alternative enterprise in the United States, Shiitake represents a way to utilize a forest resource that, in many cases, is considered a weed. Growing Shiitake involves utilization of low quality hardwoods; trees of small diameter (three to six inches) that normally are either left in the woods after conventional logging, cut and sold as low-value pulpwood, harvested as firewood, removed as competition or left as unproductive land. Utilization of this resource would also present opportunities for small woodlot improvement.Much of the shiitake production in the U.S. occurs in Virginia, Ohio, Pennsylvania and California. Growers range in size from small operations of a few logs to large corporations with hundreds of thousands of logs. In Oklahoma, low quality hardwoods, suitable for shiitake production, cover millions of acres throughout east and central Oklahoma. Currently, there exist only a few shiitake producers in Oklahoma who are experimenting with different strains and production methods.