Grower Story | Oak logs and patience at a Mendocino mushroom farm
Why log-grown shiitake takes twice as long — and tastes it.
Most shiitake on the market grows on sawdust blocks in eight weeks. The farm we buy from uses oak logs and waits nine months.
The logs are inoculated by hand, stacked in shade and left through a winter before the first flush appears. Yield is lower and labour is higher, which is why almost nobody does it.
The difference lands in the pan: caps thick enough to sear, and a depth that survives a long braise.