Premium Grade Dried Shiitake Mushrooms Extra Thick (1 Lb.)

I've bought these mushrooms about 3 times already and they are excellent! They rehydrate into big, luscious mushrooms with an earthy pungent aroma and beautiful pattern on top. They brown easily in the pan and cook up into a silky texture. Yum! They don't smell like chemicals, unlike some dried shiitakes I've bought before. The mushroom soaking liquid is full of flavor and I add a bit of back into the pan whenever I cook the mushrooms. (I find that for many applications -- such as stir-fries and soups --dried shiitakes are interchangeable with fresh, and they have a better flavor than the fresh shiitakes in supermarkets.) A key to the best flavor is a long soak in cold water on the countertop, at least 8 hours. I learned this from Asian cooks. The mushrooms, since they are quite thick, need time to fully rehydrate and soften. Great price for the amount you get, and the bag will last a long time in the freezer. I will continue to buy these until Amazon stops selling them! 😋

I did not know that mushrooms can be of the "premium quality' before I got these mushroom. They are better than any dried shitake I bought before, online or in the store. They are meaty and plump when rehydrated. The flavor is nutty and the texture is pleasant. These are very fine mushrooms. I would recommend to rehydrate in cold instead of the hot water. The temperature of the water does influence the taste. I find that rehydrating in cold water brings out more flavor and taste.

These are high quality mushrooms in the dry form and they have nice, mild, fresh flavor to them. If you do not like the flavor you will not enjoy them so be careful. I love these but I am not sure if they are giving me a reaction. Some people are allergic and so, need to be careful. But, after soaking and running through a food processor these are excellent for my soups. Still experimenting with this new food and if I not allergic to these after a few weeks of use, I will order them again. They are wonderful, if you like the specific mild flavor they have.

Today, I soaked a double handful of these shiitake in warm water. When reconstituted, the inedible shiitake stems were way too embedded to "pinch" off, as one does with fresh shiitakes, so I sliced every mushroom so as to "discard" (I put shiitake stems in a Ziploc in the freezer for mushroom stock) the stems. After slicing a bit more, I had mostly quartered mushrooms. They were tough to the chew. As I was using them in an Instant Pot recipe, I hoped that the IP would tenderize them. No such luck: great umami flavor, but tough. Keep in mind that shiitake, unlike porcini, mushrooms, rarely have any grit associated with them, so, in future, I'm simply going to pulverize my intended shiitakes in the food processor or blender before adding to the dish. These are a really great value, and their umami flavor was delicious, so I will continue to buy them. UPDATE: I did pulverize the rest of the shiitakes in my food processor, and then decided to make stock immediately using the powder and tiny pieces. The result was about 4 quarts of amazing, deeply rich, dark, flavorful shiitake "glop" -- which I mean in a very good way because I wasn't about to strain it: I wanted all of those remaining tiny pieces of umami bombs. I then froze the "glop" in pint and quart Mason jars. I used one of the pints to flavor mac & cheese, which was outrageously delicious. Today I used 1 quart of "glop" to 1 # of split peas for thick soup, and the result was equally delicious. I've been making rich mushroom stock for two decades, and I will no longer require the high expense of buying fresh mushrooms, or expensive tiny bags of porcini, just for stock. As soon as I'm down to 1 pint and 1 quart of shiitake "glop" in my freezer, I'll be amazoning another bag of these mushrooms. Accordingly, I've upgraded my review to 5 stars because, having figured out how to manage them, they're definitely worth it: 5-star flavor and 10-star value!

I purchased this item based on raving reviews. Unfortunately, the quality was disappointing. These mushrooms are plum, but there was no shiitake fragrant in soaking water and the color of the mushroom flesh was brownish instead of white. It didn't say about the origin on the package, but it sure tasted like cheap Chinese origin. What a bummer!