How to choose Hericium erinaceus

Hericium erinaceus has high nutritional value, with delicious meat, mellow flavor, and rich protein, vitamins and minerals, which is beneficial to health. Hericium erinaceus is hairy and can easily harbor bacteria and borers, so you must be particularly careful when selecting Hericium erinaceus to avoid eating it in a bad way that affects your health. So how do you select Hericium erinaceus?

What is the difference between artificial and wild Hericium erinaceus?

We can first distinguish them by their appearance and size. The biggest difference is that wild Hericium erinaceus varies in size, is darker in color, has longer hairs that are irregular and messy, but is of excellent quality, "the essence of heaven and earth." Artificially cultivated Hericium erinaceus are similar in size and have shorter hairs. If you go to the market to buy it, the big, white and beautiful ones you see are generally artificially cultivated Hericium erinaceus.

Fresh Hericium erinaceus, whether cultivated or wild, is generally white, while dried Hericium erinaceus is brown or brown. People have been using Hericium erinaceus as food since a long time ago. The Hericium erinaceus are of uniform size and bright color. The body of the Hericium erinaceus is intact, shaped like a monkey's head, with no signs of insect infestation and no impurities. The whiskers are intact and the hairs are complete. The spines are intact, short and delicate, and the overall condition is dry. Only good Hericium erinaceus can be considered. Inferior quality Hericium erinaceus is dark in color, has sparse mycelium, incomplete or fragmentary shape, uneven development and irregular shape, and thick and long pili. If the Hericium erinaceus appears unnatural or overly white overall, it is usually treated with chemicals, which is harmful to the body. Please be careful when purchasing.

The first-class food ingredient, Hericium erinaceus, has a complete body, without any scratches or defects, and the body is dry and not rotten, moldy or infested. The body of high-quality Hericium erinaceus looks like a monkey head, egg-shaped or spherical, about the same size, with many fine and long hairs and complete fuzz. The mushroom body is golden yellow or yellow with white. Poor quality Hericium erinaceus has incomplete bodies, scars, or is not dry. Poor quality mushrooms are uneven in size, irregular in shape, and have thick and long hairs. Those of poor quality are black and soft in color. Some counterfeit products are processed with sulfur, iodine or chemical agents to make them abnormally white in order to whiten them. This kind of mushroom is harmful to the human body after consumption and should not be purchased. Any items that are rotten, moldy, or moth-eaten should not be purchased.