Lentinula edodes Raw Material & Plant Part
The botanical name is Lentinula edodes (Berk.) Pegler, family Omphalotaceae, formerly written Lentinus edodes, and known as shiitake or Chinese black mushroom. The raw material is the dried fruiting body, meaning both the cap and the stem, harvested, dried and milled. The mushroom is a fungus, so the term plant part refers here to the fruiting body.
Three points prevent confusion. First, whole-mushroom powder differs from cap-only and stem-only powders, because the cap is softer and more flavorful, while the stem is tough and fibrous. Second, mycelium-on-grain products are a different ingredient, since they contain the growth substrate. Third, shiitake is a separate species from other cultivated mushrooms such as button mushroom or maitake.
Shiitake is known for beta-glucans, among them lentinan, for ergosterol that turns into vitamin D2 under light, for guanylate that supports umami, and for lenthionine, a sulfur compound that gives dried shiitake its distinctive smell.
Shiitake mushroom is grown on hardwood logs or sawdust blocks and harvested when the cap is open but still firm, then dried gently so that the aroma develops. Drying is part of the flavor, because the characteristic smell of dried shiitake mushroom forms as the fresh mushroom loses water, and a hot, fast dry gives a flatter note than a slow one.
