The caps of maitake range from tan to pale gray.
While immature mushrooms can fit in the palm of your hand, grown-up maitake can weigh upwards of 10 pounds and sometimes double that.
Use a sharp knife to slice the maitake at the base, trimming off any debris stuck to the bottom. Avoid mushrooms growing at the base of trees used by raccoons as a latrine.
Maitake “brains”—young, pristine mushrooms, sliced.
What part of wild maitake is best to eat? In a young, butter-tender mushroom, the whole mushroom is delicious, cooked. On larger maitake, the gray caps, or “feathers” remain tender.
In terms of flavor and fragrance, maitake is exceptional.
Cultivated maitake roasted with butter and seasoned with sea salt.
The name maitake means “dancing mushroom” in Japanese.