Shimeji (beech mushroom, wood fungus)

What are Shimeji mushrooms? Shimeji is also known as beech mushroom . Its fine nutty aroma is particularly popular in Asian countries. But the wood rasp or tree rasp ( Hypsizygus ) is also becoming increasingly popular in Europe.

Use in the kitchen:

In Japan, the beech mushroom ( Hypsizygus tessulatus , not "tesselatus" ) is known as Buna-Shimeji (brown) or Bunapi-Shimeji (white). Shimeji usually does not need to be peeled or washed before preparation, and the stem is also edible. The edible mushroom is good for refining the taste in small quantities. Shimeji is also used as the main ingredient in many mushroom or wok dishes, which it enriches with its spicy, nutty aroma and umami taste. This beech mushroom (shimeji) is rich in umami-tasting compounds such as guanylic acid, glutamic acid and aspartic acid.

Because of the slightly bitter taste of raw mushrooms, preparation recommendations suggest the cooked version. Gentle and short cooking allows the wood rasling to retain its color and texture - and the taste and digestibility improve. In addition to pan-fried dishes (with meat and fish), shimeji is also suitable as an ingredient in soups, stews and sauces. It can be prepared boiled, fried or steamed and served with pasta, rice, potatoes, on salad or on its own. Only the lower part of the stalk needs to be cut off. ¹

In Japanese cuisine, the wood fungus (shimeji, beech mushroom, not book mushroom) is found as an ingredient in nabemono (stew or soup in a nabe, a traditional clay pot). The beech mushroom also typically develops its aroma in autumn and winter soups and stews or as a component of the rice dish takikomi gohan (Japanese mixed rice).

Vegan recipe for mushroom pasta with shimeji and spinach:

These ingredients for pasta with shimeji are enough for 4 people: 400 g pasta of your choice (e.g. tagliatelle), 5 tbsp pine nuts , 3 tbsp oil (rapeseed oil), 1 onion , 3 cloves of garlic, 400 g mushrooms (shimeji or champignons ), 300 g baby spinach , approx. 100 ml vegetable stock (or vegetable cream ), 1-2 tbsp soy sauce , a dash of lime juice , chopped fresh parsley , sea salt andpepper as needed.

Preparation: Cook the pasta in salted water according to the instructions. Briefly roast the pine nuts in a small pan without oil, remove from the pan and set aside. Heat the oil in a larger pan, briefly fry the mushrooms with the finely chopped onion. Then add the chopped garlic and fry briefly, deglaze with soy sauce and a little vegetable stock. Let everything simmer for 1-2 minutes over a low heat. Add the spinach and mix well. Season with lime juice, salt and freshly ground pepper. Add the pasta to the mushrooms in the pan and mix well. Serve the dish with parsley, pine nuts and possibly vegan parmesan as a topping.

Vegan recipes with Shimeji (beech mushroom, wood fungus) can be found under the note: " Recipes that have the most of this ingredient ".

Shopping - where to buy beech mushrooms?

The cultivated Shimeji mushroom, a tree mushroom, is available all year round in selected supermarkets such as Migros , Coop , Rewe , Edeka and possibly also at Spar . Discounters such as Aldi , Lidl , Hofer , Denner etc. rarely stock this noble mushroom or only as a special offer. Since beech mushrooms are also cultivated on substrate in Central Europe, domestic Shimeji mushrooms can be bought in regional shops such as Volg , at weekly markets or in well-stocked Asian shops, because beech mushrooms are also called Asian mushrooms.

Like the button mushroom, the shimeji comes in white and brown. In Europe, the white shimeji is more popular due to its milder flavor. In Asia, the brown variety of the noble mushroom is preferred, as its flavor is much stronger.

There are several types sold under the name "Shimeji" (you may also come across the names Hatake-shimeji and Shirotamogidake or Hon-shimeji). However, their use in the kitchen is practically identical. In any case, the mushroom should be free of spots or damp spots when purchased.

The price varies greatly. Products from cultivation are much cheaper than wild-harvested specimens. Some Shimeji mushrooms are not suitable for cultivation, which drives up the price of hand-picked forest mushrooms. Regarding availability: Since the beech mushroom is cultivated, it actually has no season , but is available all year round.

Found in the wild:

Beech mushrooms are found in the wild mainly in East Asia. Some species, such as the Hon-Shimeji, also grow in Scandinavian pine forests. ²

Storage:

Beech mushrooms can be kept in the fridge for 5 to 10 days. Beech mushrooms taste best when fresh, although they can be frozen, but if possible, use them while still frozen. To do this, cut them into the desired pieces before freezing.

We do not recommend storing the food in an airtight container. As an alternative to the refrigerator, you can store it in the cellar or in a cool pantry.

If you want to freeze Shimeji mushrooms, you should first clean them, cut them into the desired size and blanch them briefly in boiling salted water. After quenching them with cold water, you can put them in the freezer. You do not thaw the mushrooms before processing them; you use them straight from the frozen state.

Ingredients - nutritional value - calories:

100 grams of beech mushrooms cover over 30% of the daily dose of vitamins pantothenic acid (vitamin B 5 ), vitamin D , vitamin K and biotin (ex vitamin B ₇ , H) recommended by the EU Food _Information Regulation .

The porcini mushroom has a similar content of pantothenic acid (2.7 mg/100g) as the shimeji (2.5 mg). The biotin content is also the same in both mushrooms at 15 µg/100g. ³

The fat-soluble vitamin D (2 µg/100g) in Shimeji and other mushrooms is in the wrongly known as "plant vitamin D ₂ " Avocados (3.4 µg), morels (5.1 µg) and chanterelles (5.3 µg) contain even more of them. For more detailed information, see the nutritional table below. ³

The mushrooms themselves generate the provitamin ergosterol as a precursor, which is transferred to vitamin D ₂ by light in the UVB and UVC spectrum. In other words, the vitamin D ₂ concentration in mushrooms depends on the conversion rate, which in turn depends on the UV spectrum, the moisture content of the mushrooms, the radiation dose and the orientation to the UV source. ⁴ Only a very small part of the vitamin D required by the human body comes from food anyway, because we need around 800 µg per day. See the article on vitamin D .

Shimeji is also rich in umami flavors such as guanylic acid, glutamic acid and aspartic acid. In addition, 100 g of shimeji cover around 40% of the daily requirement of the micronutrient or trace element copper (0.4 mg/100g). ³ Vegans already get plenty of copper. It should be noted that the nutrients in the mushrooms vary greatly depending on the harvest or cultivation environment and the nutrients available there.

You can find all the ingredients, the coverage of the daily requirement and comparison values with other ingredients in our nutrient tables. In the article Nutrients explained you will get a detailed insight into the topic.

Health aspects - effects:

Medicinal mushrooms and vital mushrooms are known and used for mycotherapy. Medicinal mushrooms play a role in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) and even the glacier man Ötzi carried a medicinal mushroom with him. Certain mushrooms are therefore particularly healthy, others particularly unhealthy. We notice that suppliers argue about whether mushroom powder or mushroom extracts should be used and that some of the products on offer are dubious. Organic quality is also an issue with mushrooms because pesticides are often used in conventional mushroom cultivation. We found a dozen medicinal mushrooms among the medicinal mushrooms, but not the beech mushroom, so we don't know whether it has a healthy effect. However, when consumed in moderation, mushrooms are generally a healthy food.

Dangers - Intolerances - Side effects:

The radioactivity contamination of wild mushrooms growing on wood is significantly lower than that of those growing on the ground. Due to possible heavy metal contamination from cadmium or mercury, pregnant women and children in particular should not eat more than 250 g of wild mushrooms per week ^5. The degree of contamination depends not only on the variety, but also on the location.

Reheating shimeji mushrooms is no problem if you chill the pre-cooked dish in the fridge (e.g. overnight). Before eating, make sure that you heat the entire dish sufficiently.

Eating edible raw mushrooms can cause stomach problems in people with sensitive digestive systems. If you cut the mushrooms into very small pieces and marinate them overnight (in the fridge) with lemon juice, oil, sea salt, garlic and herbs, for example, they are definitely easier to digest. When eating, it is important to take your time: thorough chewing and salivation can increase the digestibility of mushrooms.

Occurrence - Origin:

There are over 20 known beech mushroom species that are native to Northern Europe and East Asia. Easily cultivated species such as Buna-Shimeji and Bunapi-Shimeji are now widely cultivated in the USA and Europe as edible mushrooms and are called beech mushrooms.

Cultivation - Harvest:

For commercial cultivation, a special substrate made of wood chips and sawdust (wood shavings) from hardwood is required. The mycelium (mycelium), i.e. the shimeji spores, are mixed in and packed in plastic bags of approx. 1.5 kg. The substrate bags are stored for approx. 15-17 weeks at constant temperatures (max. 13 °C) in a cultivation room - this is the growth phase. In the harvest room, the first fruiting bodies can be seen after 14-20 days. After approx. 30 days, the mushrooms are cut from the blocks by hand. ⁶

You don't harvest each mushroom individually, but separate them "in bunches" with some substrate from the block.

Danger of confusion:

Inedible mushrooms also grow on beech trees, such as the beech slime bolete ( Oudemansiella mucida ). ⁷ Although this mushroom is not poisonous, it is not recommended for consumption because of its sliminess.

Animal protection - species protection - animal welfare:

The edible elm mushroom, also known as shirotamogitake ( Hypsizygus ulmarius ), also grows on elm trees. However, its population has declined sharply in recent years, which is why it should no longer be collected.

General information about the beech mushroom:

Due to its growth on deciduous trees, primarily beech trees, this rasling or wood rasling is also called beech mushroom in German-speaking countries.

The beech mushroom or Shimeji mushroom has a small, round cap that opens downwards and a characteristically long stem. The best-known representatives include Hon-shimeji (Hon Shimeji, Lyophyllum shimeji ), Buna Shimeji ( Hypsizygus tessulatus, syn. H. marmoreus ), Bunapi-shimeji, Hatake-shimeji ( Lyophyllum decastes ) and Shirotamogidake ( Hypsizygus ulmarius ). ¹ The incorrect spelling Hypsizygus "tesselatus" is common, but not correct. ⁸

Relatives of the russula are called Lyophyllaceae. These include the tufted russula ( Lyophyllum decastes ), the marsh russula ( Lyophyllum palustre ), the May knight ( Calocype gambosa ), the flesh-red russula ( Rugosomyces carneus ), the violet russula ( Rugosomyces ionides ) and the veiled hermaphrodite ( Asterophora parasitica ). Other fungi also appear under beech trees, such as the poisonous beech russula ( Russula mairei ). ⁷

In the West, Asian mushrooms are known as shiitake mushrooms, oyster mushrooms, enoki, tonku mushrooms, privet mushrooms, marbled wood mushrooms ( H. marmoreus (Peck) HE Bigelow), straw mushrooms, golden mushrooms, cloud ear mushrooms or mu-err. The most popular are probably the oyster mushrooms. However, they are bitter and difficult to digest raw. The enoki from Japan grows almost all over the northern hemisphere and is known as the common velvet foot bolete. This is a white mushroom with long, slender stems and small caps. Enoki have a delicate nutty taste and are edible raw. The cloudy, very dark mu-err mushrooms (jew's ear, cloud tube mushroom, Chinese morel, mu-er) come from Chinese cuisine.

Alternative names:

The brown beech mushroom Buna-Shimeji is also known in English as beech shimeji or brown beech or brown clamshell mushroom. In 1972, when it was patented, it was called "hon-shimeji". ¹ Hon-Shimeji is a mycorrhizal fungus and is difficult to cultivate.

The white beech mushroom Bunapi-Shimeji was selected from UV-irradiated Buna-Shimeji and registered as "hokuto shiro". In English it is called white beech or white clamshell mushroom. ¹ It seems that the white mushroom is grown in the dark, ⁹ but we could not find any confirmation of this statement.

Interesting fact:

Because of the rapid reproduction of the beech mushroom, the name Shimeji is also a name for anime or manga characters that move on the computer screen.

There are numerous misspellings for Shimeji: ahimeji, ashimeji, chimeji, dhimeji, dshimeji, schimeji, shameji, shemiji, shemji, shhimeji, shieji, shiemeji, shiemji, shijemi, shikeji, shimeeji, shimegi, shimehji, shimeij, shimeiji, shimej, shimejii, shimejil, shimejio, shimejis, shimejj, himejji, shimejl, shimejo, shimejoi, shimeju, shimejy, shimeki, shimelji, shimenji, shimeyi, shimieji, shimij, shimiji, shimje, shimjei, shimmeji, shimrji, shimuji, shimwji, shineji, shinmeji, shjimeji, shjmeji, shlmeji, shmeij, shmeji, shmieji, shmiji, shomeji, shumeji, shymeji, sihimeji, sihmeji, sjimeji, smimeji, sshimeji. It's hard to believe how many errors there are in this word.

Literature - Sources: