Shiitake Mushroom snacks

For a change of pace, mushroom farming led to a bumper crop, for one person. Dried jerky like seasoned snacks - delicious experimental results.

Last autumn I farmed the soil (logs, hickory, elm, oak, wild cherry), and planted the seeds (sawdust with spores and millet as a fertilizer of sorts), and this year after several rainy days, bonanza:

If all of the logs had bloomed, then I would need to dry them, or take them to a farm market.

Oak logs, shiitake mushroomslike oak.

Logs in another area. NorthSpore is the company I purchased the treated sawdust. The Lion's Mane wild cherry and elm logs didn't bloom, some were eaten too fast. Critters ate the millet sawdust from a lot of the logs that I hadn't covered with leaves, so that is an important last step after treating the logs. I picked off the matted leaves this spring from the area that I had covered.

The snacks were based on a seasoned dried shiitake snack from an Australian company that were delicious. Mine turned out to be more jerky or crouton-like in texture, but also delicious.

Shiitake mushrooms drying in the oven after sautéing briefly with onion, garlic and spices.

3 (very) large shiitake and a couple smaller ones: rinse, de-stem, chop in one inch pieces.

Mix seasonings in a small bowl, all measurementsare approximate:

• 1 teaspoon coriander

• 1/2 teaspoon cumin

• 1 teaspoon powdered rosemary

• 1/2 teaspoon powdered oregano

• 1 teaspoon Gumbo file

Sprinkle over the bowl of chopped mushrooms and mix, I did half and mixed then sprinkled the other half to promote even coverage. Set aside.

Chop half a large onion and 2 large cloves garlic. Sautee briefly in a tablespoon or two of olive oil. Add the seasoned mushrooms and stir with the onions and oil. Cover and let heat for three minutes. Stir occasionally.

Remove from the heat and place the mushroom chunks on an oiled cookie sheet, minus the onions and tiny pieces (sauce for other foods!). Sprinkle the mushrooms with sea salt. Bake at 200'F for one hour. At this stage they were delicious and would be a great served as a hot appetizer.

I then moved them to my food dehydrator and the snacks became jerky like eventually, and more intense in flavor. I am not sure if the moisture content is low enough to store for long, but that isn't a problem yet. I only have a handful left. Sampling all day as it dehydrated was part of the learning process. ;-)

Shiitake mushroom snacks drying more in a food dehydrator.

They were excellent at earlier stages of the drying, as a hot finger food. They are still excellent as the chewy meat like jerky after being on a vegan diet for autoimmune reasons for a few years (6).

Dried Shiitake snacks - chewy like beef jerky.

I have more mushrooms to practice with, yum!

I used the top layer for my first batch, and had cooked three the day I harvested them. It had rained so much they were already past peak time to harvest.

I have two more growing and they look a little more like typical shiitake that you might buy dried at a Japanese market.

Benefits of eating shiitake mushrooms are throughout the body with cardiovascular help, improved immune function, and healthy bones. Weight loss or maintenance may be easier too, and the benefits also include healthier gums and maybe fewer cavities too. Phytonutrients in shiitake mushrooms help prevent plaque-building bacteria.

• 5 Health Benefits of Shiitake Mushrooms, Kim Erickson, Medically reviewed by, Dr. Holly Lucille, ND, RN. (FullScript.com/blog)

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