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mushrooms

margaret

By margaret
in Japan: Cooking & Baking

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sizzleteeth

sizzleteeth

Posted
Posted
Hi, sizzleteeth, I'm back.  How are you?  I wonder if you are still there.

Thank you Hiroyuki for your complete research into this topic - I am just now able to read.

If only such well researched information was available on every subject perhaps we would not

be so inclined to accept the unverified 3rd party information we often draw our knowledge and opinions from.

I find in my own life that, until you experience something yourself - everything one knows is mere rumor.... and even then our knowledge is questionable.

I applaud your efforts.

-Sizzle

:wink:

"At the gate, I said goodnight to the fortune teller... the carnival sign threw colored shadows on her face... but I could tell she was blushing." - B.McMahan

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dougery

dougery

Posted
Posted

Ok, the season is approaching and it's time to talk matsutake! Favorite places to hunt... I wont tell, I promise : 0) favorite dishes, best places to buy! Most of my friends always thought I got excited around fall because of the holidays but they are sorely mistaken!

My first dish every matsutake season is just matsutake sauted in butter, then sprinkled with a touch of lemon and just a dash of soy. I like to eat this with a cup of cold sake. My first experience of the year has to be as pure and clean as possible.

Next up?...

"Live every moment as if your hair were on fire" Zen Proverb

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jrufusj

jrufusj

Posted
Posted

Oh man! I love matsutake.

Only time I've ever been hunting/picking is when I went to the Yang-Yang Song-i Festival last year. (Song-i is Korean for matsutake). In addition to picking, there was a typical local town festival and a ton of matsutake dishes.

Among other things, they were serving matsutake nigirizushi, song-i doen jang jji gae, grilled pine mushroom, pine mushroom fried rice, and pine mushroom sandwiches. One has to ask why??? about the sandwiches.

My favorite ways to prepare them are simpler. First, I love them lightly pan-grilled with just a little bit of good salt and sesame oil. Also, I like them raw and very, very thinly sliced with a little citrus juice and nothing else (similar in style to a common Italian way to eat porcini). It Italy, it is usually limone. For matsutake, I like lemon or sudachi.

Hey, the festival is only a few weeks away. I wish I would be in Korea for it, but can't be this year.

Jim

Jim Jones

London, England

Never teach a pig to sing. It only wastes your time and frustrates the pig.

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dougery

dougery

Posted
Posted

Living in the Pacific NW I guess I'm a little spoiled when it comes to matsutake. I feel badly now...

I wish I could share matsutake with all of my fellow egullet friends. If I could I truly would.

I have some good friends that work in the produce business and some might ship overseas. As the season approaches, I'll see what the harvest looks like and how prices are. The way it's been raining and the temperatures being about average/cool, it might be a good year! Hopefully prices will be good!

"Live every moment as if your hair were on fire" Zen Proverb

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dougery

dougery

Posted
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When fresh and closed, the texture is meaty with a nice snap when you bite into it, it is quite unique. The aroma and flavor is what makes this mushroom so different from others. The flavor is very difficult to describe but the aroma is kind of musky, a tad citrus like, and almost spicy. Since the flavors, aroma, and texture are so unique, most dishes including matsutake use this mushroom as the focal point. Most other ingredients are usually subtle in flavors, textures and aroma as to not over shadow the essence of the matsutake.

I don't feel there are really any similarities between shitake and matsutake.

"Live every moment as if your hair were on fire" Zen Proverb

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melonpan

melonpan

Posted
Posted

local matsutake pickers must have found a bumper crop this year... the japanese market here is selling them for us$14.99 a pound.

<center><img src="http://www.rawbw.com/~coconut/eg/04/041003matsutake.jpg"></center>

bought $12 worth. wiped them clean and cut them into halves for grilling. 2 were holey and infested. but the rest were good! yumms!

"Bibimbap shappdy wappdy wap." - Jinmyo
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Hiroyuki

Hiroyuki

Posted
Posted

Mushroom season again!!

Today, I participated in a mushroom workshop conducted here in Shiozawa.

Edible and poisonous mushrooms were on display, and participants were served a bowl of mushroom soup.

gallery_16375_5_1097044198.jpg

The instructor first explained poisonous mushrooms and then edible ones.

gallery_16375_5_1097044359.jpg

My son and I are going to Daigenta Lake in Yuzawa town on October 10 for another mushroom workshop. My son (8) knows more about mushrooms than I do, and he is really looking forward to it.

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Hiroyuki

Hiroyuki

Posted
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Today, I saw packs each containing three SMALL matsutake mushrooms imported from China sold for 1,580 yen. That translates into 500 yen per piece. Of course, I did'nt buy any.

Products like these are about all I can afford :sad::sad: :sad: :

gallery_16375_5_1097044154.jpg

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torakris

torakris

Posted
Posted
Today, I saw packs each containing three SMALL matsutake mushrooms imported from China sold for 1,580 yen.  That translates into 500 yen per piece.  Of course, I did'nt buy any.

That is better than what I saw today, the had 4 small ones from Canada for 2800yen ($26)

Kristin Wagner, aka "torakris"

 

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  • 3 weeks later...
torakris

torakris

Posted
Posted

I just ran across this story:

http://mdn.mainichi.co.jp/news/20041024p2a00m0dm015000c.html

An elderly woman who had been hospitalized with an acute brain disease she suffered after eating "angel's wing" mushrooms, has died, prefectural government officials said Sunday.

The death has brought to eight the number of patients who died of an acute brain disease after eating the mushroom in Niigata, Yamagata and Akita prefectures.

Looking on the internet says this isn't a poisonous mushroom...

anyone know anything about this one?

Kristin Wagner, aka "torakris"

 

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Hiroyuki

Hiroyuki

Posted
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All victims were

1) Above their 50s,

2) Had kidney ailments, and

3) Ate angel's wing mushrooms before they died.

The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare is currently investigating this matter. I'll report on the findings as soon as they become available. In the meantime, those who have kidney ailments are advised not to eat angel's wing mushrooms.

Angel's wing mushrooms are called sugi hira take (lit. 'cedar flat mushroom') in Japanese, but commonly known as hataha here in Niigata. The people here have eaten them for centuries. Both my son and I like them and will continue to eat them despite the incidents.

gallery_16375_5_1098697178.jpg

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torakris

torakris

Posted
Posted
All victims were

1) Above their 50s,

2) Had kidney ailments, and

3) Ate angel's wing mushrooms before they died.

The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare is currently investigating this matter.  I'll report on the findings as soon as they become available.  In the meantime, those who have kidney ailments are advised not to eat angel's wing mushrooms.

Angel's wing mushrooms are called sugi hira take (lit. 'cedar flat mushroom') in Japanese, but commonly known as hataha here in Niigata.  The people here have eaten them for centuries.  Both my son and I like them and will continue to eat them despite the incidents.

Thank you for that information!

I had thought they were edible, so I was puzzled by the deaths....

Kristin Wagner, aka "torakris"

 

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torakris

torakris

Posted
Posted

today's newspaper says that two more people died from eating that same mushroom....

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getart...n20041026b3.htm

Ten more people have been diagnosed with acute brain disorder in Akita Prefecture, and two have died, the prefectural government said Monday, possibly the result of eating a type of edible wild mushroom.

The deaths of a woman in her 70s and a man in his 60s brought to four the number of people in Akita who have died from the acute brain disorder since mid-September, and to 10 the total number of deaths in Akita, Yamagata and Niigata prefectures.

Like Hiroyuki said before, they were over 60 and both had kidney problems....

Kristin Wagner, aka "torakris"

 

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Sobaicecream

Sobaicecream

Posted
Posted

That's very scary. And with all the rains, I notice wild mushrooms have been popping up like crazy in my neighborhood park. I'm always so worried some children, or my own dog, might accidentally eat some out of curiosity.

Speaking of all this rain--and since I sense the presence of some real mushroom experts :biggrin: on this thread-- would you agree that the recent weather would actually be favorable for the commercial mushroom growing industry as well?

I ask because in another thread, there was discussion about how expensive lettuce has become, due to typhoons destroying crops. Conversely, should mushroom prices in our supermarkets be getting cheaper then? I have never paid great attention to the prices before, so I can't tell if they've really changed. Maybe I'm being overly hopeful. But I thought that since it seems we'll be suffering a bit from lack of leafy greens, perhaps we could cheer ourselves by indulging in more mushrooms instead! :smile:

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Hiroyuki

Hiroyuki

Posted
Posted
would you agree that the recent weather would actually be favorable for the commercial mushroom growing industry as well?

Hmmm...

Most store-bought mushrooms are produced indoors and are therefore not susceptible to the weather (some mushrooms such as shiitake and nameko may be produced outdoors, using logs). I think the prices of mushrooms remain stable despite the series of typhoons, but I don't think they will go down.

I may be wrong. Can anyone else tell us more?

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torakris

torakris

Posted
Posted

mushrooms are on the cheap side right now because it is their shun (season) but I can't imagine them going cheaper than average especially with the stores struggling with their other vegetable prices.

Kristin Wagner, aka "torakris"

 

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  • 2 weeks later...
Hiroyuki

Hiroyuki

Posted
Posted
An update on the poison mushrooms.

http://mdn.mainichi.co.jp/news/20041105p2a00m0dm011000c.html

Seems this year's unpredictable weather has caused angel's wings mushrooms to grow funny. And more plentifully, which means people are eating more of them.

Thank you for the followup story, smallworld.

***

Do any of you remember that hon shimeji mushrooms are now cultivated?

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/wine/news_g/20040208uj22.htm

(February 8, 2004, Yomiuri Shimbun)

The ones in the photo are sold only at Seibu Department Store at Ikebukuro, Tokyo. The article says that they are cultivated by Yamasa Shoyu, a food company. The company produces 300 to 500 kilograms of them annually.

And, this story is dated September 14, 2004.

http://www.business-i.jp/news/sou-page/new...-BIZCSKLZFA.nwc

It says that Takara Bio has started mass-producing hon shimeji mushrooms at a factory with an annual production capacity of 100 tons.

I live in such a small rural town and I have not yet seen any of those cultivated hon shimeji mushrooms sold at a supermarket.

My question is: Have any of you seen or actually eaten these cultivated ones? My son is curious to know.

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