Dried Wood Ear Mushrooms

Wood ears, like shiitake, are not seasonal, which is why you can find them in forests even in winter months. Wood ears are also medicinal mushrooms, as they help lower blood pressure and cholesterol levels. Thanks to their healthy properties, they also have an anti-inflammatory effect and stabilize our immune system. In addition to a high vegetable protein content, these mushrooms contain vitamin B1 and the minerals magnesium, potassium, calcium, iron, phosphorus, silicon and beta-carotene. Wood ears are wild mushrooms and are therefore not from regulated cultivation. They were collected in the northern forests of Spain and then dried.

The wood ear’s taste is very mild, they’re almost tasteless. For this reason, they can be easily combined in many ways in the kitchen.

In our opinion, wood ears go best with:

• Wok dishes
• vegetable stir-fry

Why are dried mushrooms so expensive, relatively speaking, and what are the advantages of dried mushrooms?

Fresh mushrooms contain a lot of water and lose up to 90% of their weight when dried. This explains the higher price of dried mushrooms compared to fresh mushrooms. When soaked in water though, dried mushrooms expand to almost their normal size and both their taste and consistency remain nearly unchanged. One of the biggest advantages of dried mushrooms is their shelf life. If stored correctly, sufficiently dried mushrooms can be kept for several years without any noticeable loss of quality. However, it is important that the mushrooms are stored in an airtight container.