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(Golden Oak mushroom, Black forest mushroom, Black mushroom, Oakwood mushroom, Chinese mushroom, Shiangu-gu, Shiang Ku, Donku, Pasania)
The Shiitake has been a traditional delicacy in Japan, Korea and China from time immemorial. The Shiitake has been cultivated on wooden logs, in the open, in the mountainous regions in Asia for over a thousand years. This cultivation method takes 6 months to a year. Until today it has been the most popular edible fungus over there. Only a few decades ago techniques were developed for a quicker cultivation in cultivation rooms, involving treatment with hot air and enrichment with supplements and on a substrate on a basis of sawdust. This has made it possible to shorten the cultivation period of this fungus to a number of weeks.
The Shiitake is a saprophytic fungus and grows in the wild on dead or dying wood of broad-leaved trees, especially oak and beech trees.
The cap of the Shiitake ranges from 5 – 25 cm wide and grows from a round bulb into a half bulb and into a flat cap in the adult stage. In the beginning the cap is almost black, but as the cap grows, the colour changes into light brown. The rim of the cap is whitish at first. The flesh of the cap is whitish to brown. The stem has a fibrous structure and can be positioned either centrally or offset to the side.
The Shiitake has a somewhat nut-like taste and a soft structure The nutritional value of Shiitake is 13-18% protein, 6-15% fibre, 2-5% lipids. Apart from that, there are various publications that Shii-take is responsible for an improvement of the human immune system and that it would be a restraining agent for certain forms of cancer.
