Lentinula edodes best known by its Japanese name, shiitake, is the leading specialty mushroom in North America.
In China where it was originated, it is referred to as xiang-gu, the mushroom with great aroma. Mushrooms have been working their herbal magic for over 3,000 years in traditional oriental medicine.
Ancient people, shamans, and healers already knew the secret powers of this mushroom and it was seen as the symbol of long life.
Credit was given to Wu Sang Kwuang in Zhejiang Province in China as the ingenious observer who figured out how to cultivate shiitake during the Sung Dynasty in 1100 AD.
It was introduced to Japan about 500 hundred years later. It is recorded that members of Japanese courts regarded shiitake as an aphrodisiac and defended the growing sites by keeping them hidden and well-guarded.
From 1892 in, the cultivation methods on wood logs were consistently improved and further developed by Japanese scientists.
Dr. Shozaburo Minura in Japan was the one to develop the scientific method of inoculating natural logs with pure culture of shiitake mycelia in 1914.
In 1946, the mushroom industry in Japan experienced a great thrust forward due to the invention of Tanegoma spawn.
History of mushroom shiitake
