Herb. No. 098 · Polyporaceae
Pine-woods sclerotium of China, Korea, and neighboring forests — fu ling.
Native · East Asia
Native Also grown
OpenGentlefungus
Poria
Wolfiporia extensa
A buried pine fungus used in Chinese soups for dampness, gut, and calm — a sclerotium, not a mushroom cap.
Fu ling is a large subterranean sclerotium on pine. Traditional formulas use it as a bland, draining, shen-calming food-herb. You will almost always buy dried cubes, not grow it. Home culture is a pine-log specialty, not a windowsill kit. This plate is so the soup ingredient has a face.
Flavor
Almost none — a clean, faintly sweet wood. It carries the soup.
Parts used
Sclerotium (inner white)
In favor
- Gentle food-herb
- Keeps dried for years
Against
- Not a beginner grow
- Bland — that is the point