Auricularia auricula-judae - Wood ear

Wood ear (Auricularia auricula-judae) is a gelatinous, ear-shaped fungus grown on hardwood logs or a composted sawdust-and-bran substrate, eaten in Chinese cuisine and traditionally credited with medicinal effects.¹²

Inputs

• Substrate: composted sawdust (78%), bran (20%), calcium carbonate (1%), and sucrose (1%); or cottonseed hulls (93%), wheat bran (5%), sucrose (1%), and calcium carbonate (1%) used directly without composting; or natural logs of broad-leaf trees, with oaks preferred.¹
• Spawn run: about 25°C (±2°C) for 28-30 days, kept below 500 lux — more light during this stage can trigger premature fruiting.¹

Outputs

• Human food²
• Medicinal use²

Type

• Edible fungi

Footnotes

1. Production Technology | Penn State Plant Pathology & Environmental Microbiology ↩ ↩² ↩³

2. Boo-Tanical Wonders: The Spooky Side of Nature | NC State Extension ↩ ↩² ↩³