Maitake. Hen of the woods.

What it is

Grifola frondosa — maitake in Japanese, hen of the woods in English, named for the resemblance to a hen’s ruffled back. In the wild it grows at the base of old oaks in autumn; cultivated, it fruits as a dense rosette of overlapping fronds, usually a pound or more at a time.

It is a slower, more difficult species to grow than the oysters, which is why it costs more and why it appears in smaller quantity. It is also the one people who already know mushrooms ask for by name.

How it tastes, and how to cook it

Rich, peppery and distinctly woodsy — more assertive than lion’s mane, less smoky than shiitake, and with a savoury depth that carries a dish on its own. The texture is the real event: the thin frond edges crisp to a shatter while the base stays dense and chewy.

Cook it in wedges, not pieces. Cut the rosette into fist-sized wedges through the base so the fronds stay attached, oil them, roast at 450°F for fifteen to twenty minutes, or press them cut-side down in a hot pan. Break it into small pieces and you lose the crisp-and-dense contrast entirely.

• Roasted wedges, 450°F, lemon and flaky salt.
• Pressed in a pan under a weight until the underside is a single crisp sheet.
• Tempura — the classic Japanese treatment.
• Torn into a broth at the end, where the peppery note reads clearly.

Do not crowd the pan and do not stir it. Maitake needs contact time on one face to build the crisp; every stir resets it.

What to look for when you buy

Fronds should be firm and slightly leathery with defined grey-brown banding, and the whole cluster should feel dense for its size. Softness at the base, a sour smell, or fronds that flop when the cluster is lifted all mean age. Cultivated maitake is cleaner than wild — no need to hunt for grit in the layers.

Prep, yield and waste

Trim the tough core at the very base; everything else is usable. Trim loss 5–8% depending on how much base came with the cluster. Roasting drives off a lot of water — a pound of fresh yields roughly nine ounces roasted, but the intensity goes up as the weight goes down.

Keeping it

Five to seven days at 34–38°F. It is more robust than the oysters because the fronds are relatively dry, and slightly dehydrated maitake roasts particularly well.

Availability

Limited runs rather than every week — the grow cycle is long. When maitake is on the board it goes quickly, and Share members and standing wholesale accounts get first allocation.

Common questions