Enokitake
Encyclopedia
Enokitake also Enokidake (Japanese language
Japanese language
is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...
：榎茸, エノキダケ, enokidake, ɨˌnoʊkiˈdɑːkiː) or Enoki (Japanese language
Japanese language
is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...
：榎, エノキ, enoki, ɨˈnoʊki) are long, thin white mushrooms used in East Asia
East Asia
East Asia or Eastern Asia is a subregion of Asia that can be defined in either geographical or cultural terms...
n cuisine (such as that of China
Chinese cuisine
Chinese cuisine is any of several styles originating in the regions of China, some of which have become highly popular in other parts of the world – from Asia to the Americas, Australia, Western Europe and Southern Africa...
, Japan
Japanese cuisine
Japanese cuisine has developed over the centuries as a result of many political and social changes throughout Japan. The cuisine eventually changed with the advent of the Medieval age which ushered in a shedding of elitism with the age of shogun rule...
and Korea). These mushrooms are cultivars of Flammulina
Flammulina
Flammulina is a genus of fungi in the Physalacriaceae family. The genus, widespread in temperate regions, has been estimated to contain 10 species.-List of species:* Flammulina callistosporioides* Flammulina elastica* Flammulina fennae...
velutipes also called golden needle mushroom. Wild forms differing in color, texture, and sliminess are called winter mushrooms, velvet foot, or velvet stem among other names.
The mushroom is available fresh or canned, the fresh mushroom being preferred. They are traditionally used for soup
Soup
Soup is a generally warm food that is made by combining ingredients such as meat and vegetables with stock, juice, water, or another liquid. Hot soups are additionally characterized by boiling solid ingredients in liquids in a pot until the flavors are extracted, forming a broth.Traditionally,...
s, but can also be used for salad
Salad
Salad is any of a wide variety of dishes, including vegetable salads; salads of pasta, legumes, eggs, or grains; mixed salads incorporating meat, poultry, or seafood; and fruit salads. They may include a mixture of cold and hot, often including raw vegetables or fruits.Green salads include leaf...
s and other dishes. They have a crisp texture. The mushroom can be refrigerated for about one week. Experts recommend fresh enoki specimens with firm, white, shiny caps, avoiding those that have slimy or brownish stalks.
Features
The mushroom naturally grows on the stumps of the Chinese Hackberry tree, called enoki in Japanese, but also on some other trees as for example mulberryMulberry
Morus is a genus of flowering plants in the family Moraceae. The 10–16 species of deciduous trees it contains are commonly known as Mulberries....
and persimmon
Persimmon
A persimmon is the edible fruit of a number of species of trees in the genus Diospyros in the ebony wood family . The word Diospyros means "the fire of Zeus" in ancient Greek. As a tree, it is a perennial plant...
trees. There is a significant difference in appearance between the wild and the cultivated mushrooms. Cultivated mushrooms are not exposed to light resulting in a white color, whereas wild mushrooms usually have a dark brown color. The cultivated mushrooms are grown in a high CO2 environment to produce long thin stems, whereas wild mushrooms produce a much shorter and thicker stem.
The variety available in the supermarket is always cultivated, usually in a plastic bottle or a vinyl bag for 30 days at 15°C and 70% humidity, on a substrate
Substrate (biology)
In biology a substrate is the surface a plant or animal lives upon and grows on. A substrate can include biotic or abiotic materials and animals. For example, encrusting algae that lives on a rock can be substrate for another animal that lives on top of the algae. See also substrate .-External...
of saw dust or corn cobs, and a number of additional ingredients. Afterwards, the mushroom is grown for another 30 days in a slightly cooler but more humid environment. The growth is constricted in a paper cone to force the mushroom to grow long and thin. Mushrooms available in supermarkets often still show the impression of the bottle around the base.
The mushroom is relatively easy to cultivate, and has been grown in Japan for over 300 years , initially on wood, and later in bottles. Home cultivation kits are also available.
In North America, a second species, Flammulina populicola has been cultivated and may be available in kits.
Names
The name, enokitake（Japanese languageJapanese language
is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...
：榎茸、エノキタケ）, enokidake（Japanese language
Japanese language
is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...
：榎茸、エノキダケ）, or enoki（Japanese language
Japanese language
is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...
：榎、エノキ） derives from Japanese language
Japanese language
is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...
. In Chinese
Chinese language
The Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...
, the mushroom is called jīnzhēngū金針菇 or jīngū金菇. In Korean
Korean language
Korean is the official language of the country Korea, in both South and North. It is also one of the two official languages in the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture in People's Republic of China. There are about 78 million Korean speakers worldwide. In the 15th century, a national writing...
it is called paengi beoseot (팽이버섯) as is kim châm or trâm vàng in Vietnamese
Vietnamese language
Vietnamese is the national and official language of Vietnam. It is the mother tongue of 86% of Vietnam's population, and of about three million overseas Vietnamese. It is also spoken as a second language by many ethnic minorities of Vietnam...
.
Health properties of Enokitake
Enokitake mushrooms possess antioxidants like ergothioneineErgothioneine
Ergothioneine is a naturally occurring amino acid and is a thiourea derivative of histidine, containing a sulfur atom in the imidazole ring. This compound is made in rather few organisms, notably Actinobacteria and filamentous fungi. Ergothioneine was discovered in 1909 and named after the ergot...
.
Research at the National University of Singapore
National University of Singapore
The National University of Singapore is Singapore's oldest university. It is the largest university in the country in terms of student enrollment and curriculum offered....
first published in 2005 stated that the stalk of the golden needle mushroom contains a large quantity of a protein, designated Five, which helps to regulate the immune system. Animal testing
Animal testing
Animal testing, also known as animal experimentation, animal research, and in vivo testing, is the use of non-human animals in experiments. Worldwide it is estimated that the number of vertebrate animals—from zebrafish to non-human primates—ranges from the tens of millions to more than 100 million...
indicated possible uses for vaccine
Vaccine
A vaccine is a biological preparation that improves immunity to a particular disease. A vaccine typically contains an agent that resembles a disease-causing microorganism, and is often made from weakened or killed forms of the microbe or its toxins...
s and cancer immunotherapy
Cancer immunotherapy
Cancer immunotherapy is the use of the immune system to reject cancer. The main premise is stimulating the patient's immune system to attack the malignant tumor cells that are responsible for the disease...
.
It also contains flammutoxin, a cytolytic
Cytolysis
Cytolysis, or osmotic lysis, occurs when a cell bursts due to an osmotic imbalance that has caused excess water to move into the cell. It occurs in a hypotonic environment, where water diffuses into the cell and causes its volume to increase. If the volume of water exceeds the cell membrane's...
and cardiotoxic protein that may possibly be poorly absorbed orally.