Shiitake mushroom
Shiitake is Lentinula edodes, a wood-decay mushroom cultivated on logs or supplemented sawdust blocks, with China the largest producer. It is a common culinary mushroom, and ingredient buyers use dried, sliced or milled fruiting body for foods and seasonings, hot-water extracts of the fruiting body for supplements, and mycelium grown on grain. Extracts are usually sold with a declared beta-glucan or polysaccharide percentage.
Suppliers sell different products under the same name. Specify the one you need.
Dried Lentinula edodes fruiting bodies milled to a powder, with nothing extracted or concentrated. Sold by mesh size; polysaccharide content is whatever the raw mushroom carries.
Fruiting bodies extracted in hot water, concentrated and spray dried, usually sold with a minimum beta-glucan or polysaccharide percentage and a declared extract ratio.
A water extract combined with an ethanol extract of the same material, for products that want both water-soluble polysaccharides and alcohol-soluble compounds. Residual ethanol belongs on the COA.
Mycelium grown on a grain substrate such as oats or rice and dried with the substrate. The grain stays in the powder, so starch is high and beta-glucan is lower than in fruiting body material.
Dried shiitake slices, granules or flakes for soups, seasonings and savory blends, sold by cut size rather than by assay.
Compare each result with your own specification when the lot arrives.
Keep powders and extracts sealed in lined fiber drums or foil bags in a cool, dry place away from light. Hot-water extracts are hygroscopic and cake when exposed to humid air, so reseal opened containers promptly. Shelf life or a retest date comes from the supplier's specification, and the glucan assay is usually repeated at retest.
Beta-glucan, alpha-glucan and metals vary with strain, substrate and harvest, so check each lot's COA against your specification instead of a typical value. Record whether the lot is fruiting body or mycelium on grain, the extract ratio and any carrier, and keep the supplier lot traceable to finished batches.
Facts from regulators and standards bodies, each linked to its source.
Health Canada's Mushrooms natural health product monograph lists Lentinula edodes (shiitake) with cultured mycelium, fruiting body and mycelium as the permitted parts.
Source: webprod.hc-sc.gc.ca (opens in a new tab)The EU Novel Food status Catalogue entry for Lentinula edodes (POL-NF-00469) lists fruiting body and aqueous extract powder as not novel in food, dehydrated mycelium powder as not yet authorised novel food, and mycelial extract as an authorised novel food.
Source: ec.europa.eu (opens in a new tab)This is general information, not regulatory advice. Status differs by country and by how the ingredient is used, so check the rules for your product and market.
Manufacturers and distributors whose own websites say they sell it.
Manufacturer · San Jose, CA
Draco Natural Products is a San Jose, California, maker of powdered botanical and mushroom extracts, including certified organic and traditional Chinese herb extracts, with an office in Shanghai.
Distributor · Eugene, OR
Mountain Rose Herbs is an Oregon seller of organic and wild-harvested bulk herbs, spices, mushrooms and seaweeds, with a wholesale program for businesses alongside its retail shop.
Suppliers are in alphabetical order and none pays to appear. Each claim is checked against the supplier’s own website on the date shown. Ask for the specification sheet and a recent COA before you order, and confirm details with the supplier.
Common forms include fruiting body powder, hot-water extract, dual extract, mycelium on grain and sliced and granulated. Ask each supplier for the specification sheet of the exact grade they quote.
Expect identity, beta-glucan and alpha-glucan (enzymatic), heavy metals, microbiology, pesticide residues and physical tests, each with its method, specification and result for that lot.
Keep powders and extracts sealed in lined fiber drums or foil bags in a cool, dry place away from light. Hot-water extracts are hygroscopic and cake when exposed to humid air, so reseal opened containers promptly. Shelf life or a retest date comes from the supplier's specification, and the glucan assay is usually repeated at retest.
Health Canada's Mushrooms natural health product monograph lists Lentinula edodes (shiitake) with cultured mycelium, fruiting body and mycelium as the permitted parts. The EU Novel Food status Catalogue entry for Lentinula edodes (POL-NF-00469) lists fruiting body and aqueous extract powder as not novel in food, dehydrated mycelium powder as not yet authorised novel food, and mycelial extract as an authorised novel food.
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