For over 85 years Takehisa has been a family-owned shiitake company located in Chikugo in Kyushu. Their dried shiitake mushrooms are highly prized.
The journey of their shiitake starts in the forests of Kyushu where farmers grow the mushrooms with great care on sawtooth oak logs. The Donko shiitake mushrooms grow slowly during the winter, which allows them to become thicker, develop better flavor, more umami and superior aroma. A fresh Donko variety shiitake has a nice round & thick umbrella shape and feels heavy for its size. After harvesting they are dried slowly over 20 hours at 60°C. The white cracks on top of the dried mushroom is called the flower and is a sign that the mushroom was grown in a good environment.
Then the dried mushrooms are then sold at auction, where Takehisa purchases them. Takehisa's skill is in selecting the mushrooms. They know each farmer and the quality they produce. Additionally, Takehisa hand selects the mushrooms during packing, with small, flat or broken mushrooms made into shiitake powder.
The combination of the care taken by the farmers and Takehisa's knowledge & skill ensure that these are amongst the best dried Donko shiitake mushrooms.
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