Enoki (Flammulina velutipides) Liquid Culture

Caps from these fungi are edible and are grown commercially in Japan, where they are variously known as Enoki, Enokitake or Enoko-take. Enoki is known for it’s anti-cancer properties and is an excellent edible medicinal mushroom. . They are commonly added raw to hot soups. This one also is excellent sauteed lightly and mixed into salads.

In cultivation the mushrooms are grown in dark, cold places so that they develop slowly and are very pale - often almost pure white. The stems are forced to stretch by placing a tightly-fitting collar around clusters of mushroom ; as a consequence the stems are long, delicate and tender. The caps of cultivated Enokitake mushrooms are much smaller than those of wild Velvet Shank fungi. Unlike the wild form, the caps of cultivated varieties of this species are convex when the fruitbodies are fully mature and ready for harvesting.