The season of mushrooms has arrived. Fall, with its cool temperatures and moderate humidity, is a good time for mushrooms to grow. More than 2,000 species of mushrooms grow wild in Korea, and 418 species are known to be edible. It is hard to rank them by taste and aroma, but neungi, songi, and shiitake are commonly counted as the "big three mushrooms."
Among these, shiitake is the easiest to find. As artificial cultivation has become widespread, prices have become more affordable and they are easy to find at supermarkets year-round. That does not make it a simple mushroom. High-quality wild shiitake sometimes have a higher price than matsutake in a transaction.
Shiitake plays both lead and supporting roles at the table. It adds umami to broths and is also stir-fried or grilled. Its fragrant aroma and chewy texture are distinctive. It has also been used as a medicinal material. Components such as lentinan contained in shiitake have been studied mainly for immune activation and anticancer effects.
Shiitake is also a representative "forest product." Although commonly thought of as an agricultural product, most mushrooms that grow in close relation to trees are classified as forest products. This is why the Korea Forest Service designated shiitake as an item under the national joint forest product brand "Soop Food."
◇ Air conditioning in summer, heating in winter… the sensitive shiitake
On the 8th, in Sangju, North Gyeongsang, we met Baekdu Shiitake head Kim Yun-young (36), who has run a shiitake farm for nine years.
The 1,060-square-meter (about 320-pyeong) farm has four facility cultivation houses. It produces 10 to 15 tons of shiitake annually. The houses are covered with tarps to block direct sunlight, and the inside temperature is kept around 25 degrees Celsius. Air conditioners run in summer and heaters run in winter.
"Mushrooms are fungi, so they are very sensitive to changes in temperature and humidity," Kim said. "At first, I would get up at 2 a.m. to check on their growth."
Shiitake cultivation is broadly divided into "log cultivation," which uses oak logs, and "sawdust substrate cultivation," which uses a substrate of oak sawdust mixed with nutrients. Recently, sawdust substrate has become the mainstream because it requires less labor and can usually be harvested in six months.
"Log cultivation has the advantage of a stronger aroma, but the harvest period is limited and it is labor-intensive," Kim said. "With sawdust substrate, you can control nutrients, which is advantageous for managing taste and quality."
Kim's farm uses a "top-surface substrate," which grows shiitake only on the upper surface of the substrate. Compared with the cylindrical type that grows mushrooms on the entire surface, yields are lower, but labor is reduced and it is easier to manage quality uniformly.
◇ Import pressure… domestically grown wins on "freshness and aroma"
Good shiitake have cap edges curled inward and feel firm to the touch. Flesh that is white and clean is also a hallmark of fresh shiitake.
Freshness is also the strength of domestically grown shiitake. Because the time from harvest to consumer is short, the tissue stays firm and it is easier to retain aroma and texture. It is also an advantage that origin and production history are easy to verify.
But it is hard to compete with imports on price. Shiitake imports into Korea reached 43,932 tons last year. Domestic production in 2024 is estimated at 15,651 tons for fresh shiitake and 663 tons for dried shiitake. Domestic output is on the decline.
"It is inherently difficult to compete with Chinese products on unit cost," Kim said. "China produces on a large scale at the level of corporations, so it is hard for individual farms in Korea to keep up on price." The average wholesale price for fresh shiitake at Garak Market in 2024 was 5,876 won per kilogram, down 4.5% from the previous year.
Even though they are more expensive, consumers who seek domestically grown shiitake are steady. That is because they value freshness, aroma, and a firm texture.
◇ Reinvented as knife-cut noodles and meal kits… "make shiitake the star"
The breakthrough Kim found is "processing." The idea is not to stop at selling raw shiitake, but to turn them into foods people can easily eat.
After trying to make tofu, taffy, and even bread with shiitake, Kim settled on "noodles." By adding shiitake powder to make fresh noodles, the farm commercialized them as knife-cut noodles and meal kits. Kim also registered a patent for the kneading method for the knife-cut noodles.
A three-minute walk from the farm is a restaurant Kim runs personally. With seven tables, it opens only for lunch and serves just one dish: shiitake knife-cut noodles. It is a kind of "showroom" to show and let consumers taste the shiitake Kim grows. The restaurant also sells shiitake and shiitake noodle meal kits.
The next target is overseas. Last year, to gauge the Australian market, Kim released test products and is also preparing to enter Japan.
"Even I did not have many memories of buying shiitake and cooking them myself in the past," Kim said. "I want to make shiitake, which have long been used as a secondary ingredient, into foods that anyone can easily find and enjoy."