Maitake Mushrooms (Hen of the Woods)

Scientific Name: Grifola frondosa

This choice edible mushroom is a favorite of mushroom foragers, appreciated for their nutty flavor and crisp texture, even when cooked. The mushrooms fruit at the end of the summer when nights are cool and humid, and indoors on prepared sawdust cultures when temperatures are kept cool and the air humid. Maitake is also widely valued for medicinal properties.

Cultivation: Hen of the Woods are widely appreciated for their culinary as well as medicinal properties. Start your own "flock" in the woods by planting small, freshly cut hardwood stumps. Bashful Maitake needs shade and can be a finicky fruiter, but well worth the challenge. Available in sawdust or plug spawn for log inoculation, Table Top Farms, or in 8-Block Sets (ready-to-fruit).