How to identify the quality of Lentinus edodes? The evaluation of Lentinus edodes does not need to eat, smell, see and judge the champion.

The Taichung New Community Peasants' Association invited mushroom farmers to hold a mushroom evaluation competition on the 24th, and the competition was moved to the Legislative Yuan for the first time, hoping to let consumers know how to judge high-quality shiitake mushrooms. The ways to evaluate and evaluate Lentinus edodes include their appearance, weight, thickness, aroma, color and taste. Interestingly, taste items are judged by touching, not by food.

Lu Yingyi, an assistant researcher at the Agricultural Experimental Institute, one of the judges, said that due to the influence of warm winter, the fertility of Lentinus edodes was generally poor this year, but the Lentinus edodes participating in the competition still maintained excellent quality, and the competition was very fierce. He said: the key points for the evaluation of Lentinus edodes include weight, opening, uniformity, aroma and taste, which are measured by scientific instruments, and are evaluated through the senses. However, the taste evaluation is not to eat, but to touch, and the judges can feel the flexibility of Lentinus edodes. In terms of scores, scientific measurement and sensory scores account for half, and will not be unfair because of the judges' personal preferences.

The winner of the competition was the dried shiitake mushrooms of Wu Zhen'an, a 28-year-old farmer. Lu said that his mushrooms were uniform in size, strong in fragrance, and had good Q elasticity after soaking in water, so he won. Wu Chen-an said that at the beginning, he found it profitable to grow Lentinus edodes. As soon as he graduated, he went back to his hometown to plant Lentinus edodes, and because he helped in his family's mushroom house from an early age, he became familiar with it as soon as he joined the industry, and later set up the brand "Shangzhen Lentinus edodes" to sell it. Is there any secret to winning this time? Wu Zhenan said: if we do well in the management that should be done, there will naturally be good results.

Luo Wen-Cheng, director general of the New Community Peasants Association in Taichung City, said that the price of dried shiitake mushrooms per kilogram is 20% to 30% higher than that of ordinary dried mushrooms, but Wu Chen-an said that after winning the championship, the price of Lentinus edodes will not be raised. Raising the price just because you win the championship "will scare away the guests."

Taiwan produces about 55,000 tons of dried shiitake mushrooms every year, more than half of which are produced by new communities. Chen Tianshou, vice chairman of the Council of Agriculture, said in a speech that apart from continuously assisting mushroom farmers to pass production and marketing resumes and organic certification, the Council of Agriculture will also promote artificial intelligence (AI), automation and other technologies in the future to help mushroom farmers produce better quality mushrooms through science and technology.

The 28-year-old farmer's second generation, Wu Zhenan (right), won the championship of this year's Lentinus edodes evaluation competition.

Affected by the warm winter, the fertility of Lentinus edodes is generally poor this year, but the Lentinus edodes participating in the competition still maintain excellent quality and the competition is very fierce.