Vegetables · Mushrooms

Wood ear mushrooms

Black, ear-shaped dried fungus that swells into crunchy, jelly-like pieces for soups, salads and stir-fries.

Also called: wood ear, black fungus, cloud ear fungus, jew's ear, mu er, kikurage

Around the world: 木耳, mù'ěr (zh) · キクラゲ, kikurage (ja)

A kind of mushrooms

4 recipes with it

Photo: 트리오구, via Wikimedia Commons (CC-BY-SA-3.0)

What it is

Wood ear (black fungus, cloud ear) is a tree fungus sold dried as dark, thin, brittle chips that swell into floppy, glossy, ear-shaped pieces when soaked. It has little flavour but a distinctive crunchy-gelatinous texture and absorbs sauces. Cloud ear is a smaller, thinner type.

Auricularia auricula-judae / A. polytricha

How it’s used

Hot-and-sour soup
Cold salads with vinegar, garlic and chilli
Stir-fries such as mu shu
Dumpling and spring roll fillings
Ramen topping

Characteristics

Taste: Mild and neutral.
Texture: Crunchy and jelly-like.
When cooked: Expands several times when soaked; trim hard knobs where it attached to wood.
Sold as: dried, fresh
Cooking uses: Commonly cooked, Usually eaten raw, Suitable for boiling
Common in: Chinese, Sichuan, Japanese, Vietnamese, Korean, Taiwanese