Preparing Straw Mushrooms
Preparing Straw Mushrooms
Straw mushrooms, according to Wikipedia, are the 3rd most consumed mushrooms in the world, rightfully so as it is an Asian mushroom. Is the US, Canada, and Europe, most straw mushrooms will be canned and there is some specialty farms that grow these as well. These mushrooms are normally sold fresh and what is termed, closed, meaning the cap has not emerged yet, so they look like just round or oblong balls. When the cap has emerged then they are termed as opened. I received 1 1/2 kilos (3 lbs) of these mushrooms from an inlaw, however, nearly all were the opened type, so this was a first for me to prepare these. But with the closed type, there is a proper way to prepare those as well. Opened do not have much market value, the closed are prized for stir frys and soups, however, neither type has long shelf life once harvested so markets will run out of these as well as restaurants. This mushroom also costs more than other mushrooms due to the short shelf life and excellent flavor.
Ingredients
- fresh Straw mushrooms, opened and or closed types
Instructions
Cleaning
- Normally when you buy these from a market the mushrooms are trimmed and free of any dirt or dark area where the ball of the mushroom came in contact with the straw (yes, they grow on a straw compost, hence the name). If you buy these direct from the grower, then just trim of any dark areas with a knife. Once trimmed, for the closed type, rinse under running water and shake off excess, for the opened type, very briefly rinse under running water and shake of excess water.
Opened Type
- The closed type of mushroom looks like a ball as the veil (the outer covering of the mushroom has not opened), leaving the cap and stem inside. To prepare these, simply look for a flat or cut side, then place that on the cutting board and slice only in half from the top to the bottom, the halved pieces are on the right in this photo. If you cut them crosswise, you can see they will just fall apart into different pieces. These are compact and dense mushrooms with excellent flavor. This form of mushroom does not have much water to release when cooking.
Closed Type
- The mushrooms on the left are closed (bottom one though has just opened), and on the right is the opened. The opened, the left side (the bottoms of the mushrooms) you can see the ball shape, parts of the veils (the covering over the mushroom in the closed type), the stems, and the caps. When these mushrooms open, it is just a day or two to look like these, so there is a lot of moisture in these as one would expect.
- To prepare this type, same principle applies, a lengthwise cut. First lay a opened mushroom on your cutting board.
- Slice the mushroom in half, crosswise through the stem, giving you 2 pieces. If the stem is long, then cut crosswise above the ball (the bottom end) and at the cap, giving you 3 pieces.
- Now take the ball end and cut through the stem top to bottom, and the cap through the stem, giving you now 4 pieces. If you have a stem section from a mushroom with a long stem, no need to cut the stem, then you have 5 pieces. All the pieces, even the stem, are flavorful and tender.
- Use the mushrooms in recipes of your choice, keeping in mind, the opened type will give off lots of water as it is cooked.
Notes
I will give a price per kilo when buy these again.
Used in Recipes Listed on this Site:
- Teriyaki Straw Mushrooms, made it, GO-TO recipe.
…And now I know, thanks for the very detailed explanation, I’ve seen both the opened and closed version at the market…but like you said they have a short shelf life and that’s probably why I don’t see them all the time, several months back my wife loaded up our car with some of her family to drive to a mushroom market, they had all the varieties, and everyone was so happy and talkative because they got their hands on all those mushrooms…
The Real Person!
The Real Person!
My pleasure for the info. And you bet, short shelf life. I once bought a kilo of closed straw mushrooms, and did the rookie mistake, I put the in the fridge overnight to cook the next day. The next day, I had a bag of black mush. When I get straw mushrooms now, I cook them the day I get them. đŸ™‚