Growing Procedure

Non-sterile on hardwood logs, preferably beech. Sterile as bottle or bag culture. Hypsizygus tessulatus tolerates highly enriched hardwood substrates. A long maturation period in the substrate of at least 9, but better 12-13 weeks is mandatory.

A typical swarm-forming fungus like oyster or pioppino, fruiting strategies are identical. Small fruiting openings in the substrate pouch = high yield. Bag cultures sometimes benefit from an artificial cover crop, bottle cultures need to be scratched for fruiting initiation.

Growing

Agar Culture Media: MEA
Cropping: 2 harvests, 3 weeks apart
Containers for fruiting: Tree trunks, mushroom bed, greenhouse ready culture
Biological efficience: –
Substrates: Rye Berries, grain mix, hardwood: elm, oak, alder, aspen, maple, birch, willow, beech, poplar

Growing Characteristics

successively decomposing, rarely also parasitic

Natural Habitat

Hypsizygus tessulatus, the beech mushroom, is an edible mushroom native to East Asia. It is cultivated locally in temperate climates in Europe, North America and Australia and sold fresh in super markets. In nature, these are gilled mushrooms that grow on wood. Most often the mushroom is found on beech trees, hence the common name. Cultivated versions are often small and thin in appearance and popular in many nations across the world.

On dead or living hardwood, preferably beech, usually in groups, large areas, from late summer to late fall.

Gourmet

Being tough when raw, the Hypsizygus tessulatus should be cooked, having a bitter taste when raw which disappears completely upon cooking. The cooked mushroom has a firm, slightly crunchy texture and a nutty flavor. Preparation makes the mushroom easier to digest. It is often eaten with stir-fried foods including wild game and seafood. It is used in soups, stews and sauces. When prepared alone, Shimeji mushrooms can be sautéed as a whole, including the stem or stalk (only the very end cut off), using a higher temperature; or, they can be slow roasted on a low temperature with a small amount of butter or cooking oil. Shimeji is used in soups, nabe and takikomi gohan.

Flesh

white, unchanging, thick, tough

Taste

sweetish, mild, nutty to spicy aromatic of anise

Smell

nutty, mushroomy, spicy pleasant, slightly marzipan or mealy

Nutritional content per 100g

other names

other names

Buna-Shimeji, Yamabiko Hon-Shimeji, Tamo – Motashi , Buchenrasling, Buchenpilz, Weißer Buchenpilz, Buna-Shimeji, Buchenholzrasling, Hypsizygus Tessulatus, Pleurocybella Tessulata, Pleurotus Ulmarius Sensu, Dendrosarcus Tessulatus, Tricholoma Tessulatum, Pleurotus Tessulatus, Agaricus Tessulatus

Kingdom	Fungi