Our shiitake mushrooms are complex. smoky, and full of umami. Like pioppino, but not quite as sensitive, shiitake cooked lightly retain the complex flavors. Browning brings out the intense savoriness of this mushroom but loses some of the complexity.

A favorite way to prepare shiitake and many other species is to brown one side of the mushrooms, then do a quick stir fry to cook them throughout without overcooking. This way you have the best of both worlds- the unique complexity of the shiitake with the irresistible savoriness.

The texture of shiitake caps is silky. Think oysters. For standard sized shiitake. most cooks will remove stems and use them to make a dashi or stock. We sometimes have “baby shiitakes” available- the babies’ stems are so diminutive that they are quite edible. For this reason baby shiitake offer more bite and shrink less than de-stemmed caps.

Great shelf life.