Where Are Flower Shiitake Mushrooms Produced? A Complete Overview of the Latest Main Producing Regions

Flower shiitake is a premium grade of shiitake mushroom, long known as a “mountain delicacy,” celebrated at home and abroad for its large caps, thick flesh, low moisture content and long shelf life. Its production retains a natural, pure character, and it is renowned in the mushroom world for its fragrant aroma, pure texture and snowy-white appearance. It is also prized at the table for its attractive shape and crisp, delicious taste. Now let us take a look together at where flower shiitake mushrooms are produced!

Where Are Flower Shiitake Mushrooms Produced?

1. Henan: Henan Province is a major flower shiitake producing province in China, distributed across Xixia County, Nanzhao County and Neixiang County in Nanyang City, Lushi County in Sanmenxia City, and Biyang County in Zhumadian City. Among these, Xixia County is the largest shiitake producing area in the country.

2. Zhejiang: In Zhejiang Province, the Lishui area has the most flower shiitake producing areas. Qingyuan and Longquan focus mainly on drying, while Lishui, Suichang, Pan'an and other counties and cities focus mainly on fresh sales.

3. Fujian: Fujian Province was once a major flower shiitake producing province in China, with cultivation in many counties and cities across the province, but in recent years it has declined substantially, and its total output now accounts for a relatively small share nationwide.

4. Hubei: Hubei Province is one of China's main flower shiitake producing areas, with Suizhou's flower shiitake being slightly better in both yield and quality.

5. Shaanxi: Shaanxi Province is a traditional major flower shiitake producing province, but mushroom output has been declining year by year. In the past two years, bag-cultivated mushrooms developed relatively quickly.

6. Hebei: Hebei Province has seen great development in flower shiitake in recent years, focusing mainly on fresh sales. Because sales are mainly of fresh mushrooms, the impact on dried mushrooms is not great.

Tips for Selecting Flower Shiitake Mushrooms

1. Smell: Higher-quality flower shiitake has a pure, natural aroma with no off-odor and smells quite pleasant. Some flower shiitake on the market, however, smells sour or has an obvious pesticide odor. Such mushrooms generally fail quality standards, are mostly spoiled or contain more chemical components, and can harm the body if eaten, so they must never be chosen when buying.

2. Appearance: Superior flower shiitake has a relatively large size, fairly natural fissure patterns, no traces of insect bites and few impurities, with thick, plump caps and a smooth cap surface. Inferior ones are generally not very large, sometimes show signs of small insect bites on close inspection of the surface, have relatively more impurities, and the surface sometimes appears shriveled.

3. Processing: High-quality flower shiitake generally has the base trimmed clean for easy eating and is fully dehydrated, with good dryness and a moisture content of about 13%, so nutrients are better preserved. Many inferior flower shiitake keep the base, are sun-dried, and have a moisture content of about 10 to 11%, so more nutrients are lost.

4. Color: Most top-quality flower shiitake is processed purely naturally and carefully selected. In terms of surface color, most is fairly natural and is neither too white nor too yellow. Some merchants on the market use cheaper shiitake to substitute for flower shiitake; such products mostly have fewer fissure lines, dull color, and sometimes a wrinkled surface.

5. Flesh: When choosing flower shiitake, never forget to check the flesh. You can break a flower shiitake open to inspect it carefully. Generally, high-quality flower shiitake, when broken open, is hemispherical, with large curled edges and white cracked chrysanthemum-heart patterns, and is top grade, with relatively thick but soft flesh and fine white lines tinged with light yellow. Some flower shiitake of poorer quality mostly has thinner, harder flesh.

How to Eat Flower Shiitake Mushrooms

1. Scrambled Eggs with Flower Shiitake

[Ingredients] 10 dried flower shiitake mushrooms, 2 eggs, 4 Hangzhou peppers, 25 grams peanut oil, 2.5 grams salt, 5 cloves garlic, 5 grams light soy sauce.

[Method] ① Beat the eggs and set aside. Soak the flower shiitake in warm water in advance until there is no hard core, then cut into strips. ② Wash the Hangzhou peppers and cut into small sections; peel the garlic and slice. ③ Put an appropriate amount of peanut oil in a flat-bottomed pan. When the oil is hot, add the egg mixture and quickly stir to break it up, then remove. Add a little more peanut oil and put in the garlic slices to release their fragrance. ④ Add the cut flower shiitake strips and Hangzhou peppers, add one large spoonful of boiling water, and stir-fry over medium-low heat until the flower shiitake is fully cooked. ⑤ Add half a spoonful of salt and one spoonful of light soy sauce, stir-fry evenly, add the scrambled eggs, and stir-fry over low heat for 1 minute until the eggs absorb the flavor, then turn off the heat and serve.

2. Braised Flower Shiitake in Oil

[Ingredients] 150 grams soaked flower shiitake, 10 grams scallion sections, 5 grams ginger slices, 10 grams cooking wine, 3 grams salt, 5 grams white sugar, 0.2 grams monosodium glutamate, 150 grams clear broth, 50 grams sesame oil.

[Method] ① Remove the stems from the flower shiitake, wash away the sand and mud, and squeeze out the water. ② Place a wok over high heat, add 40 grams of sesame oil, heat until 50% hot, add the flower shiitake, and stir-fry a few times. ③ Add soy sauce, white sugar, refined salt and clear broth, bring to a boil, then reduce the liquid over low heat. When the broth is almost dry, add monosodium glutamate, drizzle with 10 grams of sesame oil, remove and let cool. ④ Arrange the flower shiitake one piece overlapping another in a ring on a plate, putting more in the middle, until it forms a slightly mounded shape, and it is done.

3. Vegetarian Braised Flower Shiitake

[Ingredients] Half a jin of flower shiitake, 30 milliliters soy sauce, 20 milliliters vinegar, 20 milliliters water starch, one small spoonful chicken essence, chopped scallion, minced ginger, salt, white sugar, black pepper.

[Method] ① Soak the flower shiitake in rice-washing water for 10 minutes to remove the sand and mud under the cap, then remove the stems of the flower shiitake and use a small toothbrush to clean the sand and mud from the gaps on the underside of the caps. ② Cut the flower shiitake diagonally into slices 1 to 1.5 cm thick. ③ Heat a pan, add about 20 milliliters of oil, and when the oil is about 60% hot, add the chopped scallion, stir-fry a few times, pour in the cut flower shiitake slices, and stir-fry for about 1 minute. Then add in order the soy sauce, vinegar and about 50 milliliters of water, cover the pan, and simmer for 5 minutes. ④ When about one third of the water remains, add the minced ginger and a little white sugar. When the flower shiitake has taken on color, add the chicken essence. If it does not taste salty enough, add a little salt; according to personal taste, you can add some black pepper. ⑤ Thicken with water starch and remove from the pan.