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Photos of shiitake mushrooms show very unusual-looking fruiting bodies that are similar to champignons, but belong to a completely different species. For Russia, shiitake is a rather rare species, and it can be found on an artificial plantation much more often than in natural conditions.
What is shiitake
Shiitake, or Lentitulaedodes, is an Asian mushroom that grows primarily in Japan and China, but is widely known throughout the world. In addition to excellent taste, it has medicinal properties. Traditional Eastern medicine believes that it activates a person's vitality and helps the body protect itself from most diseases.
Description of shiitake mushrooms
The appearance of Asian mushrooms is quite recognizable. They can be distinguished from other varieties by the shape and color of the cap, the stem, and also by the places of growth.
What do shiitake mushrooms look like?
Shiitake is a medium-sized Japanese forest mushroom. Its cap can reach 15-20 cm in diameter; its shape is convex and semicircular, fleshy and dense. In young fruiting bodies, the edges of the cap are smooth, in mature ones they are thin and fibrous, slightly turned.The top of the cap is covered with dry velvety skin with small white scales. At the same time, in adult mushrooms the skin is denser and thicker than in young ones, and in old fruiting bodies it can crack severely. The photo of the shiitake mushroom shows that the color of the cap is brownish-brown or coffee, light or darker.
The underside of the cap of the fruiting body is covered with white thin plates, quite frequent, darkening to a dark brown hue when pressed. In young fruiting bodies, the plates are completely covered with a thin membrane, which subsequently collapses.
The photo of Chinese shiitake mushrooms shows that the stem of the fruiting bodies is quite thin, no more than 1.5-2 cm in girth, straight and narrowed towards the base. It can stretch from 4 to 18 cm in height, its surface is fibrous, and its color is beige or light brown. Usually on the stem you can see a fringe left over from the protective covering of the young mushroom.
If you break the cap in half, the flesh inside will be dense, fleshy, creamy or white in color. Shiitake mushrooms are quite weighty; one large fruiting body can reach up to 100 g in weight.
How do shiitakes grow?
Shiitake is mainly distributed in Southeast Asia - in Japan, China and Korea; they are found in the Far East. The mushroom can be found singly or in small groups on tree trunks or dry stumps; the fruiting bodies form a symbiosis with the wood and receive nutrients from it.Most often, the mushroom chooses maple or oak to grow; it can also grow on willow and beech wood, but it cannot be seen on coniferous trees.
The bulk of fruiting bodies appear in spring or autumn after heavy rains. In conditions of high humidity, the mushroom grows most actively.
Where do shiitake mushrooms grow in Russia?
Shiitake species are not very common in Russia; they can only be found in natural conditions in the Far East and Primorsky Territory. Mushrooms appear on Mongolian oak and Amur linden; they can also be seen on chestnuts and birches, hornbeams and maples, poplars and mulberries. Fruiting bodies appear mainly in the spring, and fruiting continues until late autumn.
Since shiitakes are very popular in cooking and are considered valuable from a medical point of view, they are also grown in specially equipped farms in Russia. Plantations are located in the Voronezh, Saratov and Moscow regions; it is from there that fresh shiitakes are supplied to markets and stores, which can be purchased for your own purposes.
An interesting feature of the mushroom is that it grows very quickly. The fruiting body reaches full ripeness in just 6-8 days, so the Japanese mushroom is grown on a large scale, which is not too difficult. Under artificial conditions, mushrooms bear fruit throughout the year; this is considered very successful, given the high popularity of shiitake. They are in even greater demand than champignons or oyster mushrooms.
Shiitake species
In fact, shiitakes are monotypic species - this means that they have no similar or related species.However, in appearance, the Japanese mushroom is often confused with meadow or ordinary champignon; the varieties are very similar in the structure of the cap and stem.
The champignon also has a medium-sized cap up to 15 cm in diameter, convexly spread in adulthood, dry to the touch and with small brown scales on the surface of the cap. At first the color at the top of the champignon is white, but with age it acquires a brownish tint. The stem of the fruiting body reaches 10 cm in length, does not exceed 2 cm in girth, is smooth and cylindrical in shape, slightly tapering towards the base. Often on the stem you can see the remains of a thin wide ring.
But at the same time, it is very simple to distinguish champignon from shiitake under natural growing conditions. Firstly, champignons always grow on the ground; they prefer nutritious soils rich in humus and are found in meadows and forest edges. Champignons do not grow on trees, but shiitakes can only be seen on stumps and trunks. In addition, Japanese mushrooms are found in nature already in the spring, while champignons begin to bear fruit in June.
Uses of shiitake mushrooms
It is not for nothing that the Japanese mushroom is grown in Russia in industrial quantities on artificial plantations. It is very popular in cooking.
You can find him:
- in soups, sauces and marinades;
- in side dishes for meat and fish dishes;
- in combination with seafood;
- as a separate product;
- as part of rolls and sushi.
In stores, shiitake can be found in two forms - fresh and dried.In Japan and China, it is customary to consume fruiting bodies mainly fresh, mostly raw immediately after collection; Asians believe that only fresh fruiting bodies have an unusual pungent flavor. In European countries, shiitake is used in cooking mainly in dried form; they are pre-soaked before cooking, and then added to soups or fried.
In food use, the caps of Japanese mushrooms are more popular than the stems. The structure of the latter is too hard and fibrous, but the flesh of the caps is tender and soft, very pleasant to the taste. Fresh and dried fruit bodies emit a pleasant mushroom aroma with a faint hint of radish and decorate culinary dishes in terms of not only taste, but also smell.
It is impossible not to mention the medical use. Due to their diverse chemical composition, they are highly valued in traditional and folk medicine. Shiitake extracts are used to combat multiple sclerosis, cancer and other dangerous diseases - the medicinal value of mushrooms is officially recognized.
Calorie content
Although the chemical composition of shiitake is very rich and rich, the nutritional value of the mushrooms is very small. 100 g of fresh pulp contains only 34 kcal, while shiitakes have a large amount of valuable protein and are perfectly filling.
The calorie content of dried fruit bodies is much higher.Since there is practically no moisture in them, nutrients are in greater concentration, and 100 g of dried pulp already contains 296 kcal.
Conclusion
Photos of shiitake mushrooms should be studied in order to distinguish Japanese mushrooms from ordinary champignons in the store, and even more so in natural conditions. Their appearance is quite recognizable; the mushroom pulp has an unusual but pleasant taste. They bring enormous benefits to the body, which is why they are so highly valued all over the world.
