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chestnut mushroom

Gourmet

Chestnut

genus

Pholiota adiposa

Common names

Chestnut, Cinnamon Caps, Brick Top, Numerisugitake (Japan).

Taste

Earthy aroma and mildly sweet flavor with distinct hints of nuttiness.
Umami similar to shiitake mushrooms but milder.

Cooking

They’re best when sautéed as you can experience their true flavor and texture. Chestnut mushrooms go well with onion, garlic and shallots and you can serve them with meat, on salads and in soups, cream sauces, casseroles and stir-fries.

Size, texture & Color

4-10 cm for the cap and 2.5-6 cm for the Stem - Convex shape
Crunchy texture and long edible stems that add new dimensions to mushroom dishes.
Brownish scales, with frilly white veil fragments. When young, and often look slightly shaggy.
Usually form clusters.

Health benefits

Chestnut mushrooms are a good source of protein and other nutrients, but they also have antimicrobial and anti-tumor properties and contain lectins that help prevent the spread of certain cancer cells.
They also contain anti-inflammatory and antioxidative compounds that help treat inflammation and boost the immune system.

History and culture

The Chestnut mushroom (Pholiota adiposa), is in the same family as the Nameko.

The word “pholiota” means scaly in Latin, and “adiposa” comes from the name of lard or grease. The caps of these mushrooms have a scaly texture and the surface of the cap has a greasiness to it. The caps will feel slimy if wet. This clustering, wood loving mushroom forms dense clusters of beautiful, dark orange gilled mushrooms with a slightly shaggy cap, without the slime layer Namekos have.

The chestnut mushroom is a species of fungus that was first noted by a German naturalist in the 1700s. It is most commonly found in Europe, living on beech trees. It can be both a saprophytic mushroom or a parasite on living and dead stems of trees.

chestnut mushroom

Growing infos.

Incubation & fruiting temperature

Incubation at 20-24°C - Fruiting best at 13-24 °C

Preffered substrate

Hardwood sawdust supplemented.

Innoculation to fruiting time

2 weeks in incubation, add up 7-10 days for the fruiting body to reach maturity.

Yield & number of flushes

Good. 2-3 flushes a few weeks apart.

Difficulty

Easy.