Packed neatly into wooden boxes, these thick juicy shiitake mushrooms come with a note like this:

“I am the shitake samurai from the land of Awa. Boil me or fry my, I leave it to the weather”.

Grown in Anan city, Tokushima prefecture, these shiitake mushroom are unbelievably delicious and this is the company that grows them:

Shinno Mokuzai Co., Ltd.

Believe it or not, it's a timber company.

The wood chips produced when machining timber are used to create optimal mushroom beds for cultivating shiitake samurai.

 

Although we know that they are grown on the best possible mushroom beds, that alone does not lead to them being this delicious.

And that's why I tried dropping the question about the mysteries of shitake cultivation to Mr. Shinno, the president of the company.

"The most important thing is to regulate the amount of water. When growing deliciously juicy vegetables, using plenty of water is important, but that's not the case with shiitake mushrooms. In shiitake cultivation, the most important point is using as little water as possible. By keeping the water levels low, the mushrooms become firm, and all the good flavor is condensed inside," the company president tells me with eyes full of confidence.

Even so, not all shiitake mushroom can become shiitake samurai. Only the largest and thickest mushroom that pass the scrutiny of the staff get to be shipped off as shiitake samurai.

Controlling the amount of water means that the mushrooms will be that much smaller. Mushrooms that grow big and robust regardless of these conditions are the only ones that are given the title of  "samurai".

And that's why shiitake samurai are delicious.

Naturally, they taste good when fried and served with a pinch of salt, but we also recommend making shiitake sauce katsudon or tempura! Even though it’s not meat, it’s just so juicy!

 

Another popular product is Shiitake Samurai Curry, which is sold in retort packages.

Leading to a masterful finish that tastes different to any that came before, the spicy curry sauce is filled with an abundance of the shiitake samurai's good flavor.