Herb. No. 073 · Auriculariaceae
Elder and hardwood jelly fungus of Europe and East Asia.
Native · Europe · East Asia
Native Also grown
OpenGentlefungus
Wood ear
Auricularia auricula-judae
A rubbery ear on elder wood — crunch in soup, and a traditional blood-moving food in Chinese cooking.
Wood ear / jelly ear is a winter and wet-weather fungus. Dried it looks like a scrap of leather; soaked it becomes a crisp, almost flavorless curl that carries sauce. Traditional Chinese use is as a food for circulation. Foraging requires knowing the elder-and-hardwood habitat.
Flavor
Almost none — a clean, cartilaginous crunch that takes on the broth.
Parts used
Fruiting body
In favor
- Keeps dried for years
- Log culture possible
Against
- Flavorless alone
- Rare anticoagulant caution at large daily food doses