Lentinula edodes

The Shiitake, Lentinula edodes,  is one of the oldest cultivated mushrooms known, with ancient Chinese records dating back over one thousand years ago.

The shiitake has been used extensively in Chinese, Japanese, and other Asian cuisines for thousands of years as a nutritious foodstuff. In many Buddhist, Asian and Asian-inspired vegetarian cuisines, shiitake mushrooms are used as a meat-substitute.

Because the shiitake has been prized as a food, it has rarely been used in Chinese Herbalism strictly as an herb, as opposed to being an edible medicine or health-promoting food. In the second half of the 20th Century, Japanese scientists have done extensive research into the medicinal qualities of the various biochemical within the shiitake. Many of these studies involved surgically implanting tumors into lab rats and lab mice, then feeding and or injecting them with various shiitake-derived extracts. The biochemicals of the shiitake indirectly inhibit the growth of tumors and other cancers by increasing the activity of the immune system. As a direct result of these studies, Asian-influenced dieticians and herbalists tout the shiitake as having excellent cancer-fighting and immune-boosting qualities, especially when combined with other cancer-fighting fungi.  As mentioned earlier, shiitake can be used as a meat substitute. This is accomplished by cooking the mushroom with salt, pungent herbs like garlic or rosemary, and savory oils (such as sesame and olive oils) in order to enhance the mushroom’s savory flavor.