Some time last week, I got a shiitake mushroom “cake”
Here it is after a couple of days. What this is is basically sterilized sawdust that has been colonized by shiitake mushroom mycelium (the ‘roots’). It is soft, silky, smells of earth, and not gross or slimy as it looks, and feels vaguely like latex rubber. The little nubbens are shiitake mushrooms “pinning” a couple of days after I cold-shocked the cake.
Two days later:
Mushrooms almost ready to harvest. I couldn’t help myself and ate one
And so this evening:
I harvested about 7 of them, and turned them into
Radiatore with Shrimp and Shiitake in Garlic Butter Sauce. Fresh shiitakes, 2 minutes after harvest are so much better than anything I’ve ever bought from the store. Freaking amazing!
The “cake” will keep producing shiitake for 4 months..I’m in gustatory heaven!
I’m taking spore prints of the shiitake, so I don’t have to buy another kit when this one runs it’s course
No chantrelles, but they do have nameko, lion’s mane (what I’m gonna try next), oyster, enokitake, cinnamon caps, as well as some less-edible varieties.
Yeah, that was a surprise to me..peppery/oniony. I’ve never noticed it before..I picked a shiitake to take with me to work, and that oniony smell lingered in my office for a good two hours. By lunchtime, though, the oniony smell and taste had gone away, which explains why I haven’t noted it even in store-bought ‘fresh’ shiitakes (from the one store in town I can get them at).
I sliced and sauteed these for my dish within 5 minutes of harvesting them..they were out of this world
My favourites are straw mushrooms; the kind you get in Chinese dishes. I have only ever seen them canned. I have no idea what their scientific name is.
