How To Buy & Store the Dancing Maitake Mushrooms to keep the delicious & healthy party going
What is the Dancing Maitake Mushroom?
Mushrooms are their own kingdom—fungus—and it’s an incredibly diverse kingdom at that. It includes molds (not tasty), yeasts (tasty in some applications), and edible (tasty), and poisonous (very much not good) mushrooms of all kinds. There’s an incredible number of varieties of mushrooms, but we will stick to some of the most delicious edible ones today, the dancing, hen of the woods Maitake mushroom. The kinds you’re most familiar with are probably white button mushrooms (the little white ones at the store) or creminis(about the same size as the button mushrooms, but brown—sometimes called baby portobellos). You also are probably familiar with the giant-capped portobello mushrooms, which, speaking as a vegetarian, are delicious but simply not an appropriate substitute for a burger—I had to get it out. I’m sorry. They’re just not. Well-stocked grocery stores may also have the delicious, savory, slightly funky East Asian Maitake mushroom.
Beyond that, unless you’re at a farmers’ market or a specialty grocery, it’s likely you’ll see anything else that’s happened to find its way to the mushroom shelves labeled “wild mushrooms” or “gourmet mushrooms,” which oversimplifies the matter so greatly.
The dancing Maitake mushroom is a fan favorite and delicious mushroom that occupy that realm. If you want to know what’s really good right now, get thee to your farmer’s market and find the nearest’s, mushroom vendor. Or see if your city has a mycological (that is, mushroom) society. Maitake mushrooms have a wild, feathery look that we adore. The other common name for this variety is Hen-of-the-Woods. The Maitake mushroom is the Grifola frondosa, a polypore mushroom that grows at the trees’ base, particularly oaks. It is also known as the hen-of-the-woods, maitake, ram’s head, or sheep’s head. This mushroom is best found in the late summer to early autumn. It is native to China, Europe, and North America.
“Maitake” means dancing mushroom in Japanese. The mushroom has gotten its name after people danced with happiness upon finding it in the wild, and such are its incredible healing properties. The mushroom grows wild in parts of Japan, China, and North America. It grows at the bottom of Oak, Elm, and Maple trees. It can be cultivated and even grown at home, though it typically won’t grow as well as it does in the wild. You can usually find the mushroom during the autumn months.
Although maitake mushroom has been used in Japan and China for thousands of years, it has only gained popularity in the United States over the last twenty years.
Is the Dancing Maitake Mushroom Delicious? What does the yummy dancing Maitake mushroom taste like?
Maitake Frondosa is wonderfully adaptable with a fabulous forest aroma and a light, crunchy texture. In the wild, maitake can grow into huge heads over a foot in diameter. Gourmet Mushrooms’ small, delicate clusters present the mushroom’s best qualities at the peak of flavor.
Traditionally the Maitake mushroom is in Asian cuisine. Still, its rich versatile flavor also finds complements with roasted meats and chicken, cheeses, dark leafy greens, and hearty grains, making it a jack of all trades of any cuisine.
Is the Dancing Maitake Mushroom healthy for you?
Certified Organic by QAI. Maitake is at the top of the list of mushrooms used in Traditional Chinese Medicine, and it is one of the better studied mushrooms in modern clinical trials. Maitake Frondosa (and other mushrooms) are functional foods, good sources of micronutrients and active biological compounds that support a healthy immune system.This mushroom is a type of adaptogen. Adaptogens assist the body in fighting against any type of mental or physical difficulty. They also work to regulate systems of the body that have become unbalanced. While this mushroom can be used in recipes for taste alone, it’s considered to be a medicinal mushroom.People are praising this mushroom for its promises of health, vitality, and longevity.
The Maitake mushroom according to the United States Dietary Association,USDA is good for your body. Just one cup of the diced dancing, hen of the woods, ram’s head or sheep’ head or Maitake mushroom contains only 22 calories! This same serving has ZERO fat, ZERO cholesterol, 4 percent of your daily need of Potassium at 143 mg, 7 percent of your daily need of fiber. For those on the KETO diet, only 4.9 grams of total carbohydrates and 1.4 grams of protein. Maitake mushrooms are rich in:
- antioxidants
- beta-glucans
- vitamins B
- copper
- potassium
- fiber
- minerals
- amino acids
The mushrooms are also:
- fat-free
- low-sodium
- low-calorie
- Cholesterol-free
How to Buy and Store Hen of the Woods, a.k.a. Dancing Maitake Mushroom
Mushrooms should be firm and dry, and avoid damp or slimy Maitake mushrooms, with no soft or moist-looking spots. Dirt’s OK. Dirt’s great. If you can buy them bulk-style, that is not wrapped in plastic, that’s best. Maitake mushrooms and plastic do not play well together, since plastic holds in moisture and keeps the mushrooms from being able to breathe. This makes for slimy mushrooms, which is no bueno, plus try to find mushrooms whose shapes are intact. If you have the option, buy whole rather than pre-sliced.
Ideally, buy the dancing Maitake mushroom from a farmer’s market. The vendor will likely be extremely knowledgeable and have a whole host of local, beautiful, colorful, and super-fresh mushrooms—they’ll be able to talk to you about what kinds of mushrooms grow where you live. And they’ll probably hand them over to you in a little paper bag.
If you get them in a plastic bag, transfer them to a paper bag as soon as you get them home. Refrigerate for up to four days or so—but use them as soon as you can, as they’ll start to either dry out or get slimy after a few days in the fridge.
How to Prep the Dancing Maitake Mushroom
Many experts say not to wash mushrooms because they are spongy and will become waterlogged. If you are not planning to cook your mushrooms for a while, say, an hour, this is definitely true. But if you are about to throw the dancing maitake mushroom into the pan and are very dirty, a quick rinse is just fine. Dry them gently but thoroughly with a clean dish towel or paper towel. Otherwise, you can dust them off with a mushroom brush (yes, there is such a thing—basically, a gentle little brush used for cleaning mushrooms) or do as I do and just lightly rub the dirtiest ones with a dishtowel. With Dancing Maitake mushrooms, please take care to clean out any pebbles or dirt that may be hidden in the branches.
Use a paring knife to trim the stems, in most cases not removing them completely—just taking off the part where the mushroom was cut when harvested and has dried. Trim off any other woody-feeling bits. From here, how you cut the mushrooms (or not) will depend on what you’re making, but all mushrooms get at least this clean-and-trim treatment.
How do you store the Dancing Maitake Mushroom
Freezing – Perhaps the easiest way to save Hen of the Woods mushrooms for later is freezing. There are 3 ways we freeze them
- (1) cleaned/raw then cook from frozen
- (2) sautéed or boiled then frozen
- (3) Raw/Breaded then deep fried from frozen. Word of caution, if you lose power then obviously you’ll lose them too. Of all the ways you can freeze Hen of the Woods, we love them breaded. We arrange breaded (raw) mushrooms on a cookie sheet and freeze, then transfer to a zip-top plastic bag, they’ll keep for about six months. Simply drop frozen, breaded and herbed mushrooms into 350°F oil and fry until lightly brown, Delicious!
Pickling – For a fun side dish that you can keep in the refrigerator, we LOVE Pickled Maitake Hen of the Woods Mushrooms. They keep for over a year and taste amazing! The downfall is that they only can be enjoyed pickled and you gotta keep them in the fridge, so you need space and power
Dehydrating – Dehydrated Hen of the Woods mushrooms are great for using in soups, stews or to make mushroom tea. They must be reconstituted in liquid and are shelf stable for years, but the Maitake mushroom loses some texture, taste and nutrition. You’ll need to grab a dehydrator (I recommend THIS budget friendly dehydrator for beginners), then on low heat, dehydrate your cleaned hen of the woods mushrooms pieces until there’s no moisture left. Store them in a sealed jar in your pantry. You can also make mushroom jerky with Maitake Mushrooms!
Canning – Canning mushrooms provides a shelf stable way to preserve Maitake mushrooms. With their meaty texture and robust flavor they hold up very well to canning but will lose some nutrition.
Freeze Drying – When it comes to retaining the MOST nutrition, Freeze Drying is superior to all other ways of food preservation. And from a food storage stand point, they are shelf-stable for 25+ years… so while you’ll need to invest in a Freeze Dryer you won’t need a freezer, refrigerator or temperature regulation of the stored food, after they are packaged. Yes, we have one and recommend the investment, ours has paid for itself.
Happy Buying & Storing the Dancing Maitake Mushroom! What are your tips for buying and storing this delicious dancing Maitake mushroom?
