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Dried shiitake mushrooms with cracked caps
  • Dashi ingredient
  • 干し椎茸

Hoshi-shiitake

The third umami, drawn from the soaking water.

Flavor profile

Umamideep umami 80%
Fermentmushroominess 60%
Mineralearthiness 55%
Sweetnessround sweetness 45%

The strengths are editorial judgments on a scale within the family, not measurements. They can be compared across the dashi ingredients varieties, not directly against another family.

Dried shiitake is the vegetarian leg the family stands on, and the only ingredient in the pantry that carries guanylate in quantity. The drying is no stopgap: fresh shiitake holds around 70 mg of glutamate per 100 g, dried holds 1,060, plus 150 mg of guanylate that barely existed in the fresh mushroom. The soaking water is not waste but half the product, and it is also where a vegetarian dashi finds its depth.

Sensory analysis

Pyramid and character

Aroma

from the bag

  • dried mushroom
  • forest floor
  • dark sweetness

Broth

in the spoon

  • deep umami
  • mushroominess
  • round sweetness

Finish

what lingers

  • very long
  • earthy
  • hearty
UMAMISALINITYSWEETNESSSMOKEBODYCLARITY

Character 0-100 per axis, set relative to the other entries in the same family. An editorial judgment of a typical serving, not measurements.

Background

Facts

Raw material
shiitake (Lentinula edodes), dried whole with the stem left on
Flavor core
glutamate 1,060 mg per 100 g and guanylate 150 mg per 100 g, against 70 mg of glutamate in fresh shiitake (Umami Information Center)
Why dried
the drying both concentrates the glutamate and creates guanylate, which the fresh mushroom lacks in practice
Synergy
guanylate amplifies glutamate even more strongly than inosinate does, which makes kombu plus dried shiitake the vegetarian counterpart of awase dashi
Use
the soaking water becomes dashi; the mushrooms then go into stews and fillings

In the pot

Broth

Soaking
cold water in the refrigerator, preferably overnight
Temperature
cold, not warm; hot water is faster but gives a flatter, more sulfurous broth
Note
strain the water, the last splash carries grit from the mushroom's stem

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