Shiitake in Japanese means "mushroom growing on a shia tree". The Latin name of this fungus is Lentinula edodes. As with all the mushrooms (we collect them in the forest, but you do not often remember that the mold is a fungus, we rarely remember it), shiitake refers to basidiomycetes - fungi, which have a special organ where spores develop - basidia.
In food, the cap is most often used, because the leg is too fibrous and stiff. These mushrooms are widely used in eastern cooking, and recently they have conquered European gourmets. However, in most cases, if black fungus (also called shiitake) and can be found in European and Russian stores, it is mostly dried, despite the fact that it is easily grown in artificial conditions.
Shiitake - good and bad
Black fungus is used not only in the culinary arts of the Far Eastern countries, but also in traditional Chinese and Japanese medicine. Useful properties of shiitake mushrooms were known to healers even during the reign of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644 AD), then it was believed that this fungus prolongs youth, increases vital energy, purifies blood. Chinese healers used it in diseases of the upper respiratory tract, liver diseases, sexual impotence. Currently, the use of shiitake mushrooms for the human body is confirmed by scientific studies of Japanese scientists. So at the Purdue University (Tokyo) in 1969, Dr. Ikekawa discovered the antitumor activity of the water extract of shiitake, which he injected into mice artificially infected with sarcoma. During experiments from black fungus, a polysaccharide, named lentinine (from the Latin name shiitake), was isolated. At present, lentinan is a biologically active food additive used for the prevention and treatment of oncological diseases.
In addition to the proven anti-tumor activity, shiitake mushrooms contain a lot of protein, yielding to their amino acid composition, perhaps, only to white fungi. However, the content of vitamin D shiitake is an unbeatable champion - in the black fungus of this vitamin is more than in the cod liver.
True, it is worth mentioning that, despite all the benefits that shiitake can bring to the human body, it is still not recommended for use by pregnant and lactating women and children under five. In addition, it should be avoided. Shiitake can cause a strong allergic reaction.