Help ID'ing this dried Oriental Fungus

[rotuts]

Im sure there is a thread on ID'g Chinese / oriental products  but I could not find it.

 

there is a new and nice Oriental market near me.  Chinese +++  thai , indian , japanese.   its tied to a decent Chinese take out.

 

decent prices   much easier to get to than Chinatown  etc.

 

I was looking for ' Tree Ears ' that one might use in Hot&Sour soup.

 

this market had this item :

 

 

which I got , they told me it comes Korea .  no matter  its thinnish and crinkly  

 

they had another dried item that was sliced very thin , dried,  that came from China.  they liked this item better. 

 

they did not understand the English  ' Wood Ears '   no matter.   Im not looking for ' authenticity ' per se 

 

are these Wood Ears   or somethings similar ?

 

many thanks

Edited January 12, 2017 by rotuts (log)

[rotuts]

here they are hydrated  ( what's on that plate )   they hydrate very quickly in cold water :

 

 

the ' leaves ' are thin  , but not as thin as lets say lettuce   but they open up in a similar manner

[JasonTrue]

They are certainly similar and probably a related species if not identical to what you're looking for; moki beoseot is, according to my cursory search based on the words on the packaging, tree ear mushroom, and it looks just like I'd expect wood ear mushrooms (or kikurage in Japanese) to look.

Edited January 12, 2017 by JasonTrue (log)

[Alex]

Concur with Jason. I use them in hot and sour soup; obviously there are many other uses.

[rotuts]

many thanks !

 

this seems to be a very nice product :  very little " wood " to trim off   etc

[Soupcon]

Clouds ear mushrooms as I learned looking at their hydrated form in your photos.

 

[rotuts]

 

Im wondering about the differences :

 

cloud ear vs tree ear mushrooms

 

Id guess that  cloud ear are tinned than wood ear , but for cook9ing purposes difficult to taste any real difference ?

 

[Soupcon]

I have always bought cloud ears dried and re-hydrate them myself. I think they are the same fungus but known by different names in different countries. My original source for the name of cloud ears was a mandarin speaking mainland Chinese friend.

[Beebs]

The black ones are wood ear fungus.  Cloud ear fungus are generally white/beige/yellow and fluffy-looking - like little clouds.  Used in sweet soups.  White cloud fungus

 

I googled for white cloud fungus rather than just cloud ear.  They're both rather bland and flavourless on their own, more of a texture thing.

[helenjp]

I used to work in a Chinese grocery way back when. In English, we called this type "cloud ear". This is what I think is in your photo, though the underside is hard to see.

"Cloud ear" (Japanese kikurage = "wood jellyfish", but written with the characters for "wood ear", which gives you some idea of how closely related cloud ear and wood ear are) and the pale "snow" or "jelly" fungus or mushroom (Japanese shiro-kikurage "white cloud ear/wood ear) are usually almost the same color on both sides when dried, and more translucent when soaked than wood ear. I think they expand more than wood ear.

Wood ear have a dark top side and a slightly fuzzy pale underside. There is a special name for this "light underside" type in Japanese, but they are not common here, so they are usually called "black wood/cloud ear" (kuro-kikurage). They are usually a bit cheaper than cloud ear, but in many dishes where they are shredded, it is possible to sub one type for another.

One reason why people are so eager to call everything by the same name is that the translucent type used to be called Jew's ear in English. 

Edited January 13, 2017 by helenjp
clarity (log)

[liuzhou]

Cloud ear fungus (Auricularia polytricha)(云耳 yún ěr)

 

See this post.

 

Edited January 13, 2017 by liuzhou (log)

[liuzhou]

Coincidentally, they are on "special offer" at my local supermarket according to their promo magazine which turned up this morning.

 

[rotuts]

thank you all

 

the black wood ear sliced thin  and dried is what was in the other package.