Örtfabriken loves mushrooms. It is difficult to get hold of many of the functional mushrooms in Swedish grocery stores, but one of these awesome mushrooms is in abundance. Shiitake has not only become popular in Sweden, it is the most popular edible mushroom in the world.
Shiitake, like other mushrooms, is a rich source of minerals and vitamins. It contains copper, B vitamins selenium, zinc, potassium, phosphorus, manganese and iron. So it's nice to have shiitake as part of your diet. Personally, I try to eat it every week, not least because I easily suffer from iron deficiency. In the picture below you can see how I try to weave a wide arsenal of greens, herbs, fermented foods and mushrooms into my everyday life :
Growing shiitake
Techniques used in Japan to grow their own shiitake have remained largely unchanged for centuries. The shiitake mushroom originated in East Asia. In the forests of Japan, it grows naturally on decaying trees. People collected wild shiitake mushrooms from the decaying forest trees before starting to grow them. Harvesting the mushrooms led to more mushrooms growing in the same area year-round. In this way, shiitake became a delicious and safe food source that requires very little care.
Over time, people discovered that if the cut logs were placed in forests where shiitake mushrooms were growing, the mushrooms would also sprout on the logs. This gave rise to the cultivation of wild shiitake in the forests of Japan. Due to the overharvesting of shiitake, shiitake is now grown outside the forests, on cut tree trunks.
My uncle and I tried growing shiitake mushrooms on logs. He owns a forest, which made it easy to get access to fresh tree trunks. See the picture below and read the full blog post here . I believe mushrooms will become an important part of our future diet and learning how to grow them is a good skill.
Shiitake tastes delicious. It has a fairly strong mushroom flavor and is distinctly umami. I use mushrooms a lot in cooking, as I said, and occasionally I make my kraft teas a little extra powerful by adding a couple of fresh or dried mushrooms to the decoction. The decoction will taste a lot of mushrooms, though, so be prepared for that.
Before I share a recipe, I want to point out one thing. All mushrooms must be heated in order for us to be able to absorb the substances in the mushrooms. It can also be difficult for sensitive stomachs to digest the mushrooms if they have not been cooked properly. So let them fry on low heat for an extra while. If instead of eating you plan to drink the mushrooms as a decoction, you should also let the mushrooms simmer in the water for at least 30 minutes (read more about how and why to make a decoction). So don't forget ... always heat all types of mushrooms!
Recipes with shiitake mushrooms
Here is a delicious recipe that I love to make. I found the recipe in the magazine Buffé. The dish can be eaten vegetarian with, for example, rice, tofu, millet and a salad. But it is also good with, for example, salmon.
2 tbsp hoisin sauce
2 tablespoons Chinese rice wine (shaoxing wine or dry sherry)
2 tsp Chinese soy sauce
1 tbsp sambal oelek
2 teaspoons granulated sugar
2 tbsp finely grated fresh ginger
1 tsp finely grated garlic clove
200 g shiitake mushrooms
1 leek (about 250 g each)
2 tbsp rapeseed oil
Do this:
Mix hoisin sauce, wine or sherry, soy sauce, sambal oelek, sugar, ginger and garlic.
Trim and cut the mushrooms into smaller pieces. Trim and rinse the leek. Split lengthwise and cut into slices about 2 cm thick.
Fry the mushrooms in oil in a frying pan for about 4 minutes. Add the leek and fry for another 3 minutes, or until it starts to colour. Add the sauce and let it cook for a few minutes.
Shiitake mushroom tincture recipe
I mentioned before that it is important to heat the mushroom. You can take all mushrooms in the form of a tincture. A tincture is a liquid concentrate of an herb or mushroom. To make a tincture, alcohol is usually used, as it is the liquid that most easily dissolves the mushroom's active ingredients. In the picture below you can see how to make a tincture step by step.
What separates mushroom tincture from herbal tincture is that the mushroom must be heated with water to extract the water-soluble ingredients. Step two is to extract the alcohol-soluble ingredients with alcohol. You combine these two solutions and you get a very potent mushroom tincture!
On Örtfabriken's blog you will find recipes for how to make your own tincture of mushrooms. Over the years, we have created an inspiring bunch of blog articles about herbs, mushrooms, and health from a holistic perspective. Subscribe to our newsletter and you won't miss any news!
