Shiitake

Also Golden Oak, Chinese, oakwood, black forest, and black mushroom

Once upon a time, a dark, handsome mushroom lurked incognito in Chinese-American restaurants, magically transforming the simplest soups, stir-fries and braises with its muscular presence. When the dried mystery fungus finally came out of the cupboard in all its fresh glory, nearly 30 years ago, it was with its Japanese name, shiitake (with equal emphasis on the syllables, shee-tah-kay). “Shii” is the tree on which the fungus grows naturally, Castanopsis cuspidata, or Japanese chinquapin, one of many members of the. vast beech family under and upon which so many marvelous mushrooms happen. The last two syllables (ta-ke) mean mushroom in Japanese, so the word should not be added in English.