Auto-SummaryEnoki mushrooms (Flammulina velutipes) are widely distributed across temperate regions and grow on hardwoods and occasionally conifers. In cultivation, they are sensitive to carbon dioxide and light levels, resulting in various morphologies. The mushrooms have specific growth parameters, including incubation temperature, relative humidity, and fruiting conditions. They can produce two to three crops every 10-12 days. Enoki mushrooms are valued for their nutritional content and potential medicinal properties, such as anti-cancer activity. They are typically sold in bunches and have a mild, slightly sweet flavor, making them suitable for various dishes.
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Cultivation information from Stamets, GGMM:
Description: Cap 1-5 cm in diameter, convex to plane to upturned in age, smooth, viscid when wet, bright to dull yellowish to yellowish brown to orangish brown. Gills white to yellow, attached to the stem. Stem usually short 1-3 inches, yellow to yellowish brown, darkening with age and covered with a dense coat of velvety fine brown hairs near the base. In culture, the morphology of this mushroom is highly mutable, being extremely sensitive to carbon dioxide and light levels. Cultivated specimens usually have long yellowish stems, small white to yellowish caps. When spores mature, the caps darken to brown.
Distribution: Widespread throughout the temperate regions of the world, growing from sea level to tree line.
Natural Habitat: Primarily on hardwoods, occasionally on conifers, commonly growing in the late fall through early winter. This mushroom can freeze, thaw, and continue to grow. One definition of Enoki
in Japanese is "huckleberry," implying that this mushroom grows on that shrub in Japan.
Microscopic Features: Spores white, 6-8 x 3-4 u, ellipsoid. Hongo (1988) lists a spore size of Japanese varieties of 5-7.5 x 3?4 u. Moser (1983) reports spores of European collections measuring 8-9 x 4.5-6 u. These differences may underscore the wide range of varieties included within this complex. Clamp connections present.
Available Strains: Vast populations of this species thrive in the wild, offering cultivators a rich resource for new strains. Most strains require a cold shock and/or growth in temperature ranges from 40-60?F (4.4-13?C) Strains of this mushroom vary in their sensitivity to light and carbon dioxide levels. White or yellow capped strains are common.
Mycelial Characteristics: White, longitudinally linear, becoming finely appressed and tinged light brown to spotted with golden yellow-brown zones with age. The surface roughens, resembling fine
sandpaper, and sometimes becomes beaded at the earliest stage of primordia formation. Long-stemmed, small-capped mushrooms commonly form along the inside periphery of the petri dish or during cold storage of culture slants.
Fragrance Signature: Grain spawn musty smelling, not pleasant.
Natural Method of Cultivation: Stump culture is possible, as evidenced by the penchant that this species has for logs, stumps, and wood debris in the wild. However, stump culture should not be encouraged to those who cannot distinguish Enoki mushrooms from the small, wood-decomposing poisonous mushrooms such as the deadly members of the genus Galerina or Conocybe.
Recommended Courses for Expansion of Mycelial Mass to Achieve Fruiting: Liquid-inoculated grain spawn mixed directly through sterilized, supplemented sawdust at a rate of 10-15%. The rapidly decomposing hardwoods such as alder, cottonwood, willow, aspen, and poplar are recommended. If selecting cultures actively forming primordia, and placing the mycelium into the Eberbach stirrer for the generation of liquid-inoculated grain spawn, the duration from colonization to fruiting can be shortened by a week. The timely disturbance of developing primordia often results in bursts of regrowth.
Suggested Agar Culture Media: PDYA, MYA, OMA, or DFA.
1st, 2nd, and 3rd Generation Spawn Media: Grain spawn throughout.
Substrates for Fruiting: A wide variety of hardwoods (oak, alder, poplar, cottonwood, aspen, willow, birch, beech, etc.), and some softwoods (Douglas fir) although the latter are, in general, less productive. The supplemented sawdust formula on page 150 works well for many varieties of Enoki mushrooms. One advantage, however, of growing this mushroom on Douglas fir is that this wood has a natural resistance to green mold, especially Trichoderma. The pH range for fruiting falls between 4 and 5. Enokitake also grows on a wide variety of paper products.
GROWTH PARAMETERS
Spawn Run:
Incubation Temperature: 70-75?F (21-24?C)
Relative Humidity: 95-100%
Duration: 14-18 days
CCh: >5,000 ppm
Fresh Air Exchanges: 0-1 per hour
Light Requirements: n/a
Primordia Formation:
Initiation Temperature: 40-50?F (4-10?C)
Relative Humidity: 95-100%
Duration: 3-5 days
CCh: 2,000-4,000 ppm
Fresh Air Exchanges: 2?4 per hour
Light Requirements: 20-50 lux
Fruitbody Development:
Temperature: 50-60?F (10-16?C)
Relative Humidity: 90-95%
Duration: 5-8 days
CCh: 2,000-4,000 ppm
Fresh Air Exchanges: 2-4 per hour
Light Requirements: 20-50 lux
Cropping Cycle:
Two to three crops, 10-12 days apart
Recommended Containers for Fruiting: Most automated Enoki farms utilize polypropylene bottles for ease of handling and speed of harvesting. A cylinder of plastic or paper is formed into a cylinder fitted within the open top of each bottle. (This causes the stems to grow long and facilitates harvesting.) If Enoki are grown in bags, the sidewalls of the bags should extend 6 inches above the plane of the fruiting surface to encourage the desirable elongated stems. The plastic walls are stripped down just prior to harvest.
Yield Potentials: Biological efficiency rating to 150%, the preponderance of which is stem mass. If grown in 1-liter bottles, yields of 3-5 ounces are standard for the first flush.
Harvest Hints: The difficulty of picking several hundred mushrooms, one by one, is daunting. If you stimulate the elongation of the stem through CO: elevation, cropping can be quickly accomplished. If culturing in bottles, firmly grasp the cluster and pull. With either method, trim any residual substrate debris off with a knife or a pair of scissors. Some strains of Enoki re-assimilate the damaged stem butts and form more primordia upon them for the second flush. If only minor cap development is allowed, and the mushrooms are picked before the gills mature, shelf life is greatly extended. However, some connoisseurs favor the flavor of the tender cap over the tougher, stringy stem.
Form of Product Sold to Market: Bunches of whitish to yellowish, long-stemmed mushrooms are usually shrink-wrapped and marketed in 3- or 5-oz. packages. Most of the Enoki available is brought into this country from Japan.
Nutritional Content: Variable, influenced by substrate components. Crude protein 17-31%; fat 1.9-5.8%; fiber 3.7%; ash 7.4%.
Medicinal Properties: The water-soluble polysac-charide flammulin, is 80-100% effective against Sarcoma 180 and Ehrlich carcinoma according to Ying (1987). An epidemiological study in Japan found a community of Enoki growers near the city of Nagano that had unusually low cancer rates. Frequent Enoki consumption was thought to be the cause. Ikekawa et al. (1968) reported anti-cancer activity from extracts of this mushroom. Zeng et al. (1990) and Qingtian et al. (1991) have published studies of the anti-tumor properties of this mushroom. The polysaccharide thought to be active is commonly referred to as FVP for "Flammulina velutipes polysaccharide."
Flavor, Preparation, and Cooking: This mushroom is surprisingly flavorful, including the stems, an opinion not shared by Singer (1986). Traditionally, Enoki is lightly cooked, served in soups or in stir-fries with vegetables, fish, and chicken. The stems
are often left long, thus posing some interesting problems in swallowing. I prefer Enoki finely cut, almost diced, and then cooked at high heat for a short period of time. At a recent mycological society gathering, the addition of finely chopped Enoki to a cream sauce, stems and all, resulted in a creme superieur.
Comments: This mushroom is the classic example of the influences light and carbon dioxide have on fruitbody formation. Like Oyster mushrooms, this mushroom's appearance is contingent upon the environment in which it was grown. The growing room environment can be tuned to elicit the perfect crop. Over time, experienced growers can orchestrate flushes with precision and generate cluster-bouquets of golden mushrooms. Properly managed, each bundle achieves a remarkably similar weight.
Under outdoor conditions (moderate light/low COz), this mushroom is short-stemmed with caps as wide as the stems are long. The lower regions of the stem develop darkened fuzz, hence the common name "The Velvet Foot." Under the lighted, high carbon dioxide conditions, the stems greatly
elongate and are yellow to white in color. The caps remain relatively small. While CCh determines the length of the stem, light is an overriding factor in influencing the formation and development of the cap. Thus under high CCh and no light conditions, thin stems may form usually without any caps. Most strains behave in this fashion but responses vary. Depending on the surrounding environment, the stems can be as short as 1 inch to as long as 12 inches. The cap-to-stem ratio varies from 1:1 to 1:100. The range in the shape of the fruitbody as a response to extreme environmental conditions is remarkable.
The surface mycelium undergoes a radical transformation during the period of pre-primordia formation. The mycelium yellows, and then forms dingy, blemished brown and white zones, which soon evolve into a roughened, beaded surface. From this micro-landscape, a high population of minute, squat, yellow primordia emerge. The mushrooms appear virtually stemless. If carbon dioxide levels are kept elevated, above 5,000 ppm, significant stem elongation continues. Japanese cultivators have invented the technique of fruiting in bottles that are topped with a cylindrical insert of clear plastic or paper. The cylinder pools carbon dioxide and the stems elongate. This technique encourages the formation of highly uniform flushes of mushrooms in each bottle.
For more information on the development of the mushroom strains in response to humidity levels, see McKnight (1985, 1990, 1992).
Edited by Anno (01/01/03 10:05 PM)
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