Common Name(s)
Enoki mushroom, winter mushroom
Preferred Substrates
sawdust, wheat straw, and composted manure. Often supplemented with nutrients such as bran, soybean meal, or cottonseed hulls.
Environmental Conditions
Spawn Run: 70-75
Pinning Initiation: 40-50
Fruitbody Development: 50-60
Difficulty
Moderately Difficult
Notes
Enoki is a popular culinary mushroom known for its delicate texture and mild, slightly sweet flavor. The mushroom is often grown in long, thin clusters and has a distinctive appearance with a small cap and long stem. Enoki is typically grown in a substrate bag or bottle, and requires a high humidity growing environment to prevent drying out. The fruiting bodies are typically harvested when they are still small and thin, as they can become tough and woody if left to mature.
In the wild, this species looks significantly different from the cultivated mushrooms. Rather than the long, thin, white mushrooms, wild specimens have a more traditional mushroom appearance. This is due to a couple of key differences. The cultivated enoki likely come from varieties that have been selected for specific traits useful for cultivation including taste, appearance, and optimal growth conditions. Changes in the actual growing environment enormously impact how the mushrooms look. Restricting light and oxygen are important aspects to gaining the characteristic pale, elongated fruitbody.
One can grow this species Flammulina velutipes traditionally without altering light and oxygen. Mushrooms grown in this manner will have more color, and be shorter with a wider cap.
Check out these wild Flammulina velutipes from around the world logged on iNaturalist.
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