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Mighty Shiitake

Writer's picture: Katrien SmetKatrien Smet

Updated: Dec 8, 2022

Whether you want to prevent a cold or flu, or optimize your health and vitality, medicinal mushrooms offer powerful, broad-spectrum support. Research has identified hundreds of species of medicinal mushrooms that have the unique ability to modulate immune function, as well as enhance vitality and fight disease. Medicinal mushrooms help train the immune system to respond fast & appropriately. In this blog we will have a closer look at Shiitake.


The shiitake (Japanese, in latin: Lentinula edodes) is a very special mushroom native to East Asia, where it has been prized both for its culinary and medicinal properties for millennia. It has been cultivated for at least a thousand years, and is probably the first mushroom ever to be farmed. Nowadays they are cultivated and consumed around the world. For a long time, they have been used in traditional Chinese medicine to help to bolster health, longevity and improve circulation.

As well as being full of tasty flavour, it is an incredible nutrient-dense food. Compared to the most commonly used white button mushrooms, shiitake mushrooms contain far more protein, including all the essential amino acids. They are rich in B-complex vitamins, vitamin C, minerals (including calcium, magnesium, potassium, phosphorus, and zinc). They also boast polysaccharides, terpenoids, sterols, and lipids, some of which have immune-boosting, cholesterol-lowering, and anticancer effects. They also contain beta glucans which are important building blocks for the immune system. The exact amount of bioactive compounds in shiitake depends on how and where the mushrooms are grown, stored, and prepared.

While typically eaten like vegetables, shiitake are fungi that grow naturally on decaying hardwood trees. They are rich and meaty in flavour, and once they are cooked their texture becomes buttery and soft. You can cook them both fresh or dried. Dried shiitake have an umami flavor that’s even more intense than when fresh. Umami flavor can be described as savory or meaty. It’s often considered the fifth taste, alongside sweet, sour, bitter, and salty. Both dried and fresh shiitake mushrooms are used in stir-fries, soups, stews, and other dishes. Try popping them into risottos and stir-fries, add to soups, blend into a sauce to serve with steak, or sauté in butter and garlic.

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