Mushrooms

Shiitake Logs

Fall temperatures and rain bring out the mushrooms. This article discusses how shiitakes grow wild in Asia and how they’re cultivated on hardwood logs. Shiitakes are known and prized for their health benefits as well as their flavor and texture. You can grow your own shiitakes with a Ma & Pa Shiitake Mushroom Kit like the one shown at right from Lost Creek Mushroom Farm, available at Amazon.com.

Autumn temperatures, fall rains and waning light create the perfect climate that throws mushrooms into high gear. During the fall, it seems mushrooms puff out overnight, but they’ve been growing and gathering energy to form fruiting bodies for months and, in some cases, for a year or more.

“This is the natural season for shiitakes,” according to Sondra Williams, “The Mushroom Lady” of Lost Creek Mushroom Farm, who grows the gourmet mushrooms on logs. “They grow naturally on oaks and on the ’shii’ tree in Japan and China, a hardwood like the American birch. That’s where the name comes from – ’shii’ meaning the tree and ‘take’ – meaning the mushroom.

Shiitake is a decomposing fungus. Spores from shiitakes growing elsewhere in the forest, even miles away, may be blown into small crevices in the bark. When the branch or the tree dies, its resistant immune system also dies, so the mushroom spores can burrow into the wood and grow. Eventually the limb falls and the mushrooms are easy pickings.

“Shiitakes that grow on logs, naturally or by cultivation, can sell for as much as $80 a pound in Japan,” Williams explained. They are prized for their flavor, meaty texture, and their ability to absorb the flavors of the foods and spices they’re cooked with. Shiitakes are high in protein, low in fat, and contain natural immune-system boosters and anti-viral compounds. “They are heart-healthy and can help reduce cholesterol. The Japanese have the lowest rates of cancer and heart disease and shiitakes are prominent in their diets.”

“Most grocery-store shiitakes in the US are cultivated on sterilized sawdust and grains rather than grown on logs. Sawdust-grown shiitakes sell for about $3.50 a pound in Japan, because they don’t have the the potent health and healing properties of log-grown shiitakes,” Williams said.

“Shiitakes are not native to the US and have to be cultivated,” she added, “Fall is the perfect time to start growing them with a mushroom log kit, making it possible to harvest fresh shiitakes for the holidays.”

Lost Creek Mushroom Farm mushroom logs are made from hardwoods such as oak, sweet gum, hickory, and fruit trees. The logs are cut in winter when the sap is down and then inoculated with shiitake spawn, manufactured by mycologists. The spores are put into a mixture of oak sawdust and grains, and kept warm in a sterile environment. Williams described the spawn as “looking like large-curd cottage cheese, only drier.â€?

A grower will drill 50 to 70 holes in a log and then inject the spawn into the holes with a tool that has a tube with a plunger on the top. “We dip the tube into a bucket of spawn, push the plunger, and then seal the hole with hot cheese wax. That sterilizes the hole at the surface and protects the spawn until it can spread through the log.�

It can take from six to fifteen months for the shiitake to colonize the entire log and be ready to produce mushrooms.

For their log kits, Williams and her husband Doug, train their logs to respond to watering every two weeks and to produce shiitakes every two months. They’ll grow indoors like plants or outside in shade.

“Since their natural fruiting times are fall and spring with rains and a 20-degree temperature drop between day and night, we can “shock� a log by soaking it in cold water. It’ll produce shiitakes in 6-10 days.�

Log kits range in price from $27.50 for a 10� log to $48.50 for a 20� log with its own soaking tray. Two-log kits will produce shiitakes every month by alternating the producing log. The Ma and Pa kit with two 10-inch logs sells for $47.50 “Double-log kits offer a savings,� Williams said. Prices include shipping.

Kits include the ready-to-fruit hardwood log or logs, instructions, and recipes and are guaranteed to grow shiitakes.

Products, recipes and information about shiitake logs are on the web at www.shiitakemushroomlog.com. To order or request a free brochure by phone, call 1-800-792-0053. Lost Creek Mushroom Farm log kits are also available at Amazon.com (see all products available at Amazon below and at the beginning of this article).

Lost Creek also offers the following at Amazon:

Hot Shiitake Mushroom Gift Basket: Festive hand-made wire or grass basket with a little grow-your-own shiitake mushroom log that will produce organic shiitake every two months for 3-4 years. The gift basket features international award-winning Redbud Gourmet soup and dip mixes made with organic, log-grown shiitake mushrooms: One each Fiery and Spicy Shiitake Tortilla soup and two boxes of Shiitake Southwest Dip ~ our Flavor with Fire dip/sauce mix., two 1/2 oz bags of organic, dried log-grown shiitakes; the Shiitake Sampler Cookbook with 51 recipes and instructions for growing shiitakes on the mushroom log. Photo shows all of our Redbud Gourmet products in the basket ~ the Hot Shiitake Basket will include spicy and fiery soup and dip mixes.

Mild Shiitake Mushroom Gift Basket: Festive hand-made wire or woven basket filled with shiitake mushrooms, soup and dip mixes and a little grow-your-own shiitake mushroom log that will produce organic shiitake every two months for 3-4 years. The gift basket features Redbud Gourmet shiitake soup and dip mixes made with organic, log-grown shiitake mushrooms: Two boxes of Mild Shiitake Tortilla soup and two boxes of Shiitake Lime-Dill Dip/Sauce mix. Soups make 8-9 cups, or more, when mixed with corn and tomatoes, and/or any meats and vegetables. The dips makes 2 1/2 cups when mixed with sour cream and cream cheese, yoghurt, or other “white stuff”. Add mayo for salad dressing, cream or broth for sauces. Delicious sprinkled over chicken, fish, or pasta. Also in the basket, two 1/2 oz bags of organic, dried log-grown shiitakes and the Shiitake Sampler Cookbook with 51 recipes. Instructions for growing shiitakes on the mushroom log are included, of course. Photo shows all of our products in the basket ~ the Mild Shiitake Gift Basket will not include spicy or fiery soup or dip mixes.