CHALLENGES OF EXOTIC MUSHROOM CULTIVATION (2)
TIPS FOR HARVESTING SHIITAKE
Through my work I often see pictures of shiitake for sale in both Europe and North America. Aside from prices that are 200~300% that of Japanese prices, I often immediately notice the lower level of quality. This is not hyperbole; I’ve shown non-Japanese mushroom farmers around Japanese shiitake farms before. We tour the entire facility, including harvest and packaging. One thing that I have heard more than once, is that the tray of rejects at the Japanese farm (that is, shiitake that will either be thrown away or cut then dried for sale as cheap, low-end dried shiitake), are all shiitake that the growers would sale normally on the fresh market for standard prices in their country.
T
hrough pictures on SNS and in other media outlets, I’ve seen common issues with harvested shiitake, and I’ve read of various practices that undermine quality and shelf-life. If I were to make a list of the
issues with the appearance it would be: caps are fully opened, shiitake are often wilted or partially dehydrated, general issues with freshness, black blemishes on the gills, stems mostly or entirely removed, and actual damage to caps. In this second edition of the series, I will talk about standard industry practices in Japan when it comes to harvesting shiitake. I hope that by outlining what the Japan standard is, and then explaining why we do things a certain way here, that growers involved in shiitake better understand the value of raised standards, especially in the face of stiff competition in the mushroom industry.
Best Practice for shiitake harvest Harvesting shiitake in Japan is tough work. I have spent more time working in shiitake harvest rooms than almost any other mushroom, so I speak from experience when I say this. Japanese shiitake farms harvest once in the morning, then again early in the afternoon, and then again late in the afternoon before closing. During warmer months, it is not uncommon for a farm to send pickers back to the same fruiting room they went
through in the morning to do another run through. Why is this? Because the single most important point when it comes to harvesting shiitake is whether the cap is open. This is no different from Agaricus growers who have to time and space out harvests of fresh white and cremini button mushrooms to get the maximum combination of size, weight and shape. The reasons are largely the same as for Agaricus farmers as well (more on this in the second half of the article).
In the big picture, we see an opened shiitake that is already beginning to wilt and is no good. The remaining three give different angles for the start of optimal harvest.
48 MUSHROOM BUSINESS
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