The benefits of shiitake
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What shiitake does
What this vegetable does
It is held to replenish the way the stomach works and to strengthen the body's defences.
How to eat it
Added to simmered dishes and soups, it brings both flavour and goodness.
A yakuzen note
It is a familiar ingredient that strengthens the body's defences while it replenishes qi.
This vegetable, driedDried shiitake ->
Shiitake is a sweet, neutral mushroom held to help the gut work and to replenish qi. It suits times when low energy and easy tiredness, what is called qi deficiency, are on your mind. Added to simmered dishes and soups its savour spreads and lifts the flavour of the dish.
TOC
When shiitake is in season, its types, and how to choose it
If you want to enjoy what shiitake does, start with its season and with where fresh and dried each belong, and choosing becomes easier. It is a mushroom loved for its deep savour and scent.
In season in spring and autumn, and grown on substrate all year
Shiitake grown on logs has two seasons a year, spring, around March to May, and autumn, around September to November. The spring crop is called haruko and the autumn crop akiko. Shiitake grown on a substrate of sawdust and the like, on the other hand, is sold all year, so fresh shiitake is always available. If scent and bite matter most, the thick-capped log-grown shiitake of the cold months is something special. Dried shiitake keeps, and concentrates both savour and scent, which makes it usable whatever the season.
Fresh shiitake and dried shiitake, donko and koshin
Shiitake comes fresh and dried, and dried shiitake takes a different name according to how far the cap has opened.
| kinds | What stands out |
|---|---|
| Fresh shiitake | Thick-capped and juicy. For grilling, hotpot and stir-fries |
| Dried shiitake (donko) | A thick, round cap that has not opened out. A good bite |
| Dried shiitake (koshin) | A thin, opened cap. Easy to chop and use |
Drying shiitake in the sun brings up both savour and scent. Thick-capped donko when you want presence in a simmered dish, koshin when you will chop it, as for chirashi sushi or rice cooked with seasonings: choose by the dish.
How to choose it, and how to rehydrate dried shiitake
When choosing fresh shiitake, these are the things to look for if you want fresh ones.
- A thick, plump cap that has not opened too far
- Clean white gills under the cap, and a thick, firm stem
- A dry cap surface, with no sliminess and no discolouring
Dried shiitake gives up its savour best when soaked in cold water and left to rehydrate slowly in the fridge for five hours or overnight. The lower the temperature and the longer it takes, the more of the guanylic acid behind the savour is drawn out, and the deeper the flavour. In a hurry, a little sugar in lukewarm water speeds it up, but if you want the scent, take the time. The soaking liquid is full of savour, so do not throw it away: use it as stock for simmered dishes and soups.
How to eat shiitake
Fresh and dried shiitake have different strengths, and each suits its own dishes. Here is how to use that savour.
Fresh: grilled, in tempura and in hotpot
Fresh shiitake turns juicy with heat and its scent comes up. Simple uses suit it.
- Grilled shiitake: grill it cap down and add a little soy sauce
- Tempura and fried in butter: for the toasted note and the juiciness
- Hotpot, stir-fries and stuffed with meat: it gives up savour and sits well with the rest
The stem is good to eat as well, so cut off only the hard tip that grew in the substrate, tear the rest and use it in a stir-fry, and nothing is wasted. Washing it in water makes it watery and costs it flavour, so if dirt bothers you, wipe it lightly with a damp cloth or kitchen paper and leave it at that.
Dried: in simmered dishes and stock
Dried shiitake, rehydrated and used in a dish steeped in stock, in chirashi sushi, in rice cooked with seasonings or in a mixed simmered dish, lifts the food with its particular savour and scent. The soaking liquid combined with kombu stock makes the richly flavoured stock at the base of Buddhist temple cooking. Used as stock for a simmered dish, for udon or for a hotpot broth, it adds body. For an easy option, keeping a Japanese product such as Dried shiitake in the cupboard means stock and simmered dishes are always within reach.
How to keep shiitake
Fresh shiitake does badly in dry air and in damp, so wrap it in a paper bag or kitchen paper, put it in a plastic bag and keep it in the vegetable drawer of the fridge with the gills facing down. If you cannot finish it, cut off the base, slice it or break it into small clusters, bag it and freeze it, which draws out the savour and lets it go straight into cooking. Dried shiitake takes up damp easily, so keep it in an airtight container away from damp and insects, somewhere cool and dark or in the fridge. A desiccant alongside is more reassuring still.
Alongside this, a fellow mushroom, The benefits of black wood ear mushroom and one likewise held to replenish qi, The benefits of Japanese yam as a guide when planning a menu.
Fresh and dried shiitake belong in different places, and if you use the soaking liquid too, nothing of its savour is left behind. Use the juiciness of the fresh and the concentrated scent of the dried according to the dish.
