Gourmet
Enoki
genus
Flammulina filiformis
Common names
Enokitake, Velvet Foot, Golden Needle, Lily mushrooms, Jingu in Chinese, Nim Kim Châm (in Vietnamese), and Paengi Beoseot (in Korean).
Taste
Mild, fruity flavor.
Cooking
Enoki can be served raw in soups and salads or quick cooked in stir-frys. They become tough and fibrous if overcooked.
Size, texture & Color
Small white caps and very thin-long,
Crunchy texture.
White color, brown for the Golden Enoki strain.
Health benefits
Enoki mushrooms have anticancer, anti-allergy, antibacterial, antiviral, and anti-inflammatory properties, which protect and boost your immunity.
History and culture
In Mandarin, the Enoki mushroom is jinzhengu, or the “golden needle mushroom.” Enoki fungi were first cultivated in China in 800 A.D. They’ve been a staple in Asian cuisine for centuries, where they’re popular in soups, salads, and as medicinal mushrooms.
Enoki has been used since ancient times. In fact, the ancient Egyptians considered it a food of immortality and so only pharaohs were allowed to consume it. In China, it was also seen as a food that prolonged life.
Enoki thrives on the dead wood of broad-leaved trees, especially white birch, Chinese hackberry, and mulberry. In Japan, Korea, and China, it naturally grows.
Growing infos.
Incubation & fruiting temperature
Incubation at 20-24°C - Fruiting best at 13-18 °C
Preffered substrate
Hardwood sawdust supplemented.
Innoculation to fruiting time
2 weeks in incubation, add up 1 week for the fruiting body to reach maturity.
Yield & number of flushes
Good. Two to three crops, 10-12 days apart.
Difficulty
Easy.