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 _t.png "Dried Shiitake - Baby, Whole & Sliced") _t.png "Shiitake Pate - contains no gluten, yeast, animal products or nuts")
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Maesyffin
Mushrooms, Maesymeillion, Llandysul, Ceredigion, Wales, SA44 4NG. tel: 0845 4581258 / 01545 590467 e-mail: enquiries@maesymush.co.uk |
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Maesyffin Mushrooms have been growing their award-winning Shiitake mushrooms in rural West Wales since 2003, in a system originally developed by Humungus Fungus. These days we also grow Lion's Mane
and Reishi mushrooms. |
On November 11th 2010 Maesyffin Mushrooms'
Fresh Organic Shiitake Mushrooms won a Gold
True Taste Speciality Product award and Bronze
in the Organic Product category to add to their
2008 True Taste Speciality Product (Healthy Options) Winner's
award and Commended awards for 2006 and 2007.
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SUSTAINABILITY - At Maesyffin
Mushrooms we grow all our mushrooms using locally-sourced materials
wherever possible. Which means that we grow our spawn on organic grains, and our mushrooms on wood chip we have made ourselves
from local hardwood 'brash' (tree trimmings and hedge cuttings
which would otherwise just be burned in the field). Our sawdust
is mainly oak and is a waste product from local woodcrafting workshops.
The organic bran we use is produced at Felin
Ganol water mill at Llanrhystud. Our electricity is 100% green
energy from Octopus Energy. |
NUTRITION
Culinary Uses Shiitake is very popular in China and Japan, where the majority of the world’s shiitake are grown and consumed. It is a leading source of the Umami (or "deliciousness") Taste, especially when dried. Shiitake works well with red meats in particular, but also chicken and other meats, vegetables and eggs. The stems should be kept as they are full of goodness and flavour and can be used for a highly nutritious soup stock or used in pâtés or mushroom roasts. Shiitake can be added to casseroles, quiches, bread and other baked items, as well as used in traditional and modern Asian recipes. Oh, and they are great fried slowly and served on toast. And then there's shiitake 'bacon' ... Vegetarian umami heaven! |
SHIITAKE is the second most cultivated mushroom in the world and the most popular of the "exotic" mushrooms. Shiitake are tasty and nutrituous and can be used in many culinary ways. 
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UK GROWN? You may have seen this
on fresh mushrooms - but what does it mean? That the mushrooms are
grown in the UK? Well, yes. But did you know that the mushrooms
could have been grown on substrates imported from another country
- most likely China? The fruiting blocks are made on an industrial
scale - using Chinese materials & Chinese labour - and then
transported in shipping containers to the UK, where they are unloaded,
put into growing rooms and fruited to produce mushrooms.
UK grown, certainly, but UK produced??? |
SHIITAKE CULTIVATION
Maesyffin Mushrooms' shiitake are grown in Wales using locally-sourced
woodchip and sawdust substrates. |
Shiitake (or Chinese Mushrooms)
have been cultivated on hardwood logs for centuries, but it can
be an unpredictable business - usually taking more than a year before
fruiting, and then only in spring and autumn if the logs are kept
in natural conditions outdoors. Fortunately, shiitake can be grown all year round on artificial 'logs' made from wood chippings and sawdust. The sawdust comes from clean mill waste and planings, and the chippings are made from small oak and other hardwood branches. From inoculation to fruiting takes 8-14 weeks and each fruiting block can produce more than one flush of mushrooms. Once spent, the block may be broken up and used as a substrate for growing other mushrooms, composted, or burned in wood burners or bio-mass boilers to provide heat.
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DRIED SHIITAKE |
DID YOU KNOW? It takes around 1kg of fresh shiitake to produce 100g of dried shiitake.  Dried Shiitake can be reconstituted by soaking them in hot water for 20-30 minutes. Or try them as they are for an instant savoury snack!
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A word about packaging: Our fresh
mushrooms are sold in brown paper bags, never in plastic boxes!
Our dried mushrooms are packed in either cellophane or plastic bags.
Shiitake pate is in recyclable glass jars. Any carrier bags used
are biodegradable. Wherever practical, recyled packing materials
are used for posting out orders (for example fruiting blocks) -
this helps reduce both waste and costs. |
SHIITAKE PÂTÉA smooth pâté containing at least 33% shiitake mushrooms. Nut,gluten, animal and yeast-free. Suitable for vegans and vegetarians. 
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100g jars
of nut, gluten, animal & yeast-free pâté made with
award-winning shiitake mushrooms.
Sealed and cooked in the jar for an ambient shelf-life is at least 10 months . Available by mail order as well as from local retail outlets. Wholesale enquiries welcome.
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DRIED LION'S MANE MUSHROOM
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DRIED REISHI MUSHROOM
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| Reishi is a hard, woody mushroom, and has been used for millenia in the Far East. It is often ground and taken as teas, tinctures and capsules, or mixed with coffee. This variation of Red Reishi is known as 'Antler Form' and is grown by Maesyffin Mushrooms. |
MUSHROOM EXTRACTSSHIITAKE MUSHROOM EXTRACT
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These mushroom extracts (made & sold by Fruiting
Bodies) are produced using only the dried fungus, alcohol
and water. 
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LINKS
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LOCAL
RETAILERS include: • Go Mango Wholefoods, Cardigan • Riverside Health, Newcastle Emlyn • The Mulberry Bush, Lampeter • Watson & Pratt's, Lampeter MARKETS • Lampeter Market, University Campus, Lampeter (2nd & 4th Saturdays in the month, 10am-1pm) USEFUL LINKS • Fruiting Bodies - Mushroom Extracts • Food and Drink Wales • Big Barn - reconnecting customers with local producers • The Green Guide - the directory for planet-friendly living • Fungi Perfecti - Paul Stamet's pioneering company • Fungi Futures - Recycling Coffee into Mushrooms! • Shiitake (Wikipedia) • Shiitake (Google) • Lion's Mane (Wikipedia)• Lion's Mane (Google) • Reishi (Wikipedia) • Reishi (Google) • Nutritional Properties Of Mushrooms - informative article |
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Some further reading ... |
Like to know more..? |
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This delightfully illustrated book opens with an introduction that covers the culinary qualities of over 30 wild and cultivated varieties of mushroom, as well as essential preparation and preserving techniques. With over 90 suggestions on how to incorporate the morning's harvest into hearty breakfasts, warming soups and broths, and all manner of meat, poultry, game, fish, shellfish & vegetarian dishes for every kind of culinary occasion. |
Royal Botanical Gardens Edinburgh Fungi play a crucial role in supporting life on Earth, and we humans benefit directly through an array of fungal products, including foods and medicines. This book explores our relationship with fungi and our complex cultural attitudes towards them. Chapters include fungal biology, chemistry, cultivation, foraging and conservation. There is also a recipe section. Written for the non-specialist, and making full use of the extraordinary diversity and beauty of fungi through stunning images, this book provides a fascinating introduction to a group of organisms whose lifestyle means they remain largely out of sight, overlooked and forgotten. The reality is that there is much for which fungi should be thanked. |
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The Quiet Hunt Antonio Carluccio Known as "the mushroom man", Antonio Carluccio has been collecting, cooking and devising recipes for mushrooms for over 60 years. Here he draws on his knowledge and expertise to bring together over 100 recipes that make the most of readily available mushrooms. |
Pat O'Reilly A great book exploring the majesty and mystery, facts and fantasy of the quirkiest kingdom of life on earth. Fascinated by Fungi is an easy-to-follow introduction to a complex and largely unexplored kingdom of life and the history, mystery, facts and fiction born out of the fascinating foibles of mushrooms, toadstools and other fungi. |
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Mimi Brodeur More than 60 great recipes with mushrooms as the main ingredient. Information on history, varieties, and nutritional value is included. Features recipes for appetizers, soups, sandwiches, side dishes and entrees. Learn how to clean, store and prepare. Recipes include Mediterranean Mushroom Bruschetta, Mushroom Vegetable Soup, Chicken Mushroom Fajitas, Penne Mushroom Vegetable Pasta and much more. |
Roger Phillips Roger Phillips is one of our leading experts on wild food and mushrooms. He has been foraging for decades and has influenced a generation of British chefs. Now, in this beautifully illustrated and authoritative book, he identifies hundreds of edible plants growing all around us, in our hedgerows, woodlands and fields, along river banks and seashores, even on inhospitable moorland. 'I can safely say that if I hadn't picked up this book some twenty years ago I wouldn't have eaten as well, or even lived as well, as I have. It inspired me then and it inspires me now' Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall. |
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More Than 70 Inspiring Recipes Jacqueline Malouf With over 70 recipes this is the complete guide to cooking with all varieties of mushrooms - from shitake and oyster to crimini and porcini. Mushrooms demystifies these delicious ingredients and shows how they can be used in everything from Vegetable Tempura with Sweet Mirin Soy Sauce, to a Wild Mushroom Open Lasagne. You'll discover how all types of mushrooms can transform your cooking. |
With over 600 colour photographs, this guide introduces the many different types of mushrooms, both edible and poisonous. In addition to identifying and describing a variety of different mushrooms, the book also includes valuable information such as where to collect mushrooms and how to store them. It also offers a range of recipes from mushroom pancakes and croissants to mushroom souffles and gravy, for anyone looking to explore the culinary variety made possible by savoury mushrooms. |
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A Gourmet's Guide to Mushroom Cookery, with Selected Recipes from Master Chefs Vince Viverito (Editor), Marjorie Young (Editor) |
Roger Phillips The culmination of over thirty years' work, this authoritative and superbly illustrated reference work is packed with the most up-to-date information and original photographs. This book is clear, user friendly and will appeal to a wide range of readers. 'A masterpiece of identification.' David Bellamy |
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© Maesyffin Mushrooms 2004-2023