Sea Ear Oyster Mushroom

Sea Ear Oyster Mushroom — a delicious edible mushroom. Young mushrooms are consumed fried, boiled, or stewed; they are also salted, dried, and marinated. It has been proven that including this mushroom in one's diet lowers cholesterol levels in the human blood. It grows from June to October, often in large clusters, with stems fused together in bunches.

Cap: 8-10 cm in size, sessile, initially bud-like, then fan-shaped laterally, with a curled edge downward, convex at the base, smooth, slightly sticky. Color: brownish-blue, sometimes with moist radial stripes. Gills: wide, radially fan-shaped with irregular edges. Flesh: fleshy, dense, rubbery, whitish with a moist smell (raw potato). Stipe: short, up to 4 cm long, firm, tapering toward the base.

Genus of mushrooms in the family Pleurotaceae (Oyster Mushrooms). It develops on substrates of dead plant matter, from which it can assimilate cellulose and lignin. In nature, it grows on the trunks of dead trees. Industrial cultivation technologies for oyster mushrooms on wood chips and cereal straw are known, as well as amateur techniques for cultivating mushrooms on sunflower husks. The mycelium of oyster mushrooms is suitable for storage, and the mushroom culture is distributed by some companies that sell seeds for garden plots.

The main feature is the ease of growing this type of mushroom and its high yield. The mushroom is easy to cultivate under home conditions. In terms of nutritional value, oyster mushroom is comparable to white mushroom and does not fall short of this leader. It contains up to 35% protein, a full set of essential amino acids, vitamins, and enzymes that aid better food assimilation. Moreover, this mushroom naturally protects itself from accumulating harmful substances, contains no heavy metal salts, but is capable of removing them from the human body. The high protein content (up to 47.7%) helps prevent many diseases and boosts immunity. Oyster mushrooms can be preserved in advance by salting, marinating, or preparing mushroom powder.