- Type
- Mushrooms
- Difficulty
- Moderate
- Season
- Spring·Fall
- Sowing
- From spawn
Sanghwang mushroom
Phellinus linteus
Beta-glucans and woody polysaccharides · the hard bracket that grows on mulberry
Sanghwang is a hard bracket fungus that builds up in layers on a tree trunk over several years. It never softens the way shiitake or oyster mushrooms do — it stays as firm as a block of wood — so it is not sliced and cooked but simmered a long time, and only the liquid is drunk. The upper surface of the bracket cracks black, while the underside is covered in yellowish pores. Traditional markets and herb markets sell it dried and sliced by the bag, and growers raise it by driving spawn into mulberry logs and keeping them for years before harvest. Several species travel under the name sanghwang, so reading the botanical name on the packet settles more than the trade name does. The Donguibogam carries 桑耳 in the Vegetable section, a name meaning the fungus that grows on mulberry, and records the alternative name 桑黃 alongside it. It sets the nature down as neutral while noting that some call it warm, gives the taste as sweet, and records slight toxicity.
Year-Round Calendar
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Where It Grows
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Main producer
This is the country where the method of inoculating logs with spawn and raising them in growing houses took hold first. Harvest September, October, November
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- Main producer Here it is called sanghuang, and cultivation has been scaled up mainly in Zhejiang, Heilongjiang and Jilin.
- Major producer Here it is called meshimakobu, a name that comes from Meshima Island in Nagasaki. Wild collection and cultivation exist side by side.
It grows wild on old mulberry, lilac (Syringa) and aspen trees in the temperate forests of East Asia, and Korea, China and Japan are all at once its native range and its producing regions. Several species travel under the single name sanghwang, so they have to be read apart — the representative ones are Sanghuangporus sanghuang on mulberry, S. baumii on lilac and S. vaninii on aspen, while the cultivated material long recorded in Korea as Phellinus linteus has been reported to belong to the S. baumii line. Unless this is spelled out, a distribution map looks as though it were charting the range of one single species.
- Optimum
- 25~30℃
- Range
- 10~35℃
- Hardiness
- Hardy
- Day length
- Not applicable
This is a mushroom that attaches itself to living trees or to cut logs and builds up layers over several years. Its mycelium spreads best at 25~30℃, and the cap overwinters — surviving the cold season — still fixed to the wood. Because it has no flowers, the very notion of a day-length response does not apply to it.
Harvested 2–4 years after planting. Once spawn has been put into the log, it takes two to four years of growing before the cap thickens enough to be worth harvesting. After that, the layer that grows each year is harvested from the same log.
In Korea Nationwide
Most of the crop is raised in growing houses, with spawn inoculated into mulberry logs. Wild specimens turn up only rarely, on old mulberry and oak trees up in the mountains.
How to grow
- Light
- Never in direct sun. Growers stand the logs inside a shaded growing house
- Soil and depth
- Nothing is planted in soil. A tree trunk, or cut mulberry logs, take the place of the ground
- Spacing
- Keep logs apart rather than touching so air moves on all sides. Pushed together, other moulds take hold first
- Watering
- Hold the humidity in the growing house but never let water pool. Keep dried brackets sealed and away from moisture
- Feeding
- No feeding. The nutrients in the log carry it through several years of growth
- Harvest
- Growers drive spawn into logs, keep them for several years and take the brackets once they have thickened. What is harvested is sliced and dried in the sun or a dryer
What makes the difference. Choose pieces cracked black on top with an even yellow pore surface underneath. Avoid anything soft to the touch, damp, or smelling of mould
Why this one is harder. This is not a mushroom to raise at home. Years pass between driving in spawn and a bracket forming, which makes it a different undertaking from a shiitake block kit that fruits in ten days
Common problems
- Green mould You will see A green, powdery mould settles on a log or on dried pieces What to do Take the affected log or bag out and discard it. Move the rest somewhere dry and lower the humidity
- Beetle larvae You will see Holes bored into the pore surface underneath, with dust falling from them What to do Sort out anything bored through. Keep dried stock sealed so insects cannot get in
- Other brackets mixed in You will see Pieces of differing cap and pore colour in the same bag What to do Ask the seller for the species and growing method, and choose stock labelled with a botanical name. If every piece looks different, do not buy it
This page describes how a crop is grown and used. It does not claim health effects for any food, nor is it intended to prevent or treat disease. Component and study notes are references only and do not mean the same result occurs in people. Consult a medical professional about health concerns.
Health Benefits
The old record — sangi (桑耳). The Donguibogam lists it in the Vegetable section as 桑耳, a name meaning the fungus that grows on mulberry. It sets the nature down as neutral while noting that some call it warm, gives the taste as sweet, and records slight toxicity. It also records the alternative name 桑黃, which is the name the simmered mushroom carries today. It is a short entry, and what an old medical text wrote differs from how it is judged today.
Polysaccharide analyses in the genus Phellinus. Beta-glucans and other polysaccharides have been reported in the fruiting bodies of Phellinus species in repeated analyses, with composition differing by species and growing substrate. These are compositional analyses and have nothing to do with preventing or treating disease.
Several species under one name. A number of Phellinus species circulate under the single name sanghwang. Analyses report compositional differences between them, so the name alone does not settle what is in the pot. This is a note on names and species.
Nutrition
- Beta-glucans (structural material of the fruiting body cell wall) — polysaccharides reported across the genus Phellinus
- Woody fibre (most of the fruiting body) — the structural material that makes the bracket as hard as wood
- Phenolic compounds (drawn out during simmering) — the compounds behind the colour and astringency of the decoction
- Ergosterol (common across mushrooms) — a sterol of the fungal cell membrane
Only the decoction is used Being woody, sanghwang is not sliced into a stir-fry or a soup the way shiitake is. Dried slices go into water, simmer a long time, and only the liquid is drunk. Lift the pieces out. They can be simmered a second or third time, though the colour thins with each round.
Polysaccharides in the cell wall Analyses report beta-glucans and other polysaccharides in the fruiting bodies of Phellinus species. They are among the compounds drawn out during a long simmer. This entry stays with the compositional record.
Colour and astringency in the decoction Simmered, the liquid deepens from yellow to red-brown. That colour and the astringency come from phenolic compounds in the woody tissue. The longer it goes the more astringent it turns, so stop once the colour is there.
Where the name and the species part ways Several species travel under the market name sanghwang. Analyses report compositional differences between species within the genus Phellinus. Checking the botanical name and the growing method on the packet settles more than the trade name does.
Pairings
○ A long simmer — Put dried slices into cold water and hold it gently once it boils. The tissue is hard, and a short steep gives no colour at all. Lift the pieces out once the liquid turns red-brown.
○ Jujube — The decoction leads with astringency. A split jujube in the pot brings a sweetness that makes it easier to drink. Add it late and boil it briefly. Jujube
○ Roasted barley or Solomon's seal — Simmered alongside, roasted barley or Solomon's seal lays a toasted aroma over the astringent finish. Once cool, refrigerate and drink within a day or two. Barley
△ Brackets picked in the wild — Many fungi grow in layers on wood, and the difference is not one that cap colour or shape will settle. People simmer the wrong species believing it to be sanghwang, again and again. Do not pick or simmer a wild mushroom you cannot identify with certainty.
△ Chewing it — Sanghwang is woody and never softens however long it boils. Lift the pieces out after simmering and drink only the liquid. Grinding it to powder and swallowing that amounts to taking down indigestible fibre, and is not advisable.
△ On medication or pregnant — This is a material used by simmering it and drinking it daily. Anyone on medication, pregnant or nursing should fix a daily amount rather than drinking it strong over a long stretch. Tell the treating clinician what is being taken.
△ Mouldy dried stock — Dried sanghwang left damp grows mould. If white dust or blue-green spots appear, or it smells damp, discard that bag. Keep it sealed somewhere cool and dry.
Varieties
- Phellinus linteus (spawn) — The name once meaning the kind growing on mulberry. It is the name markets generally use for sanghwang
- Phellinus baumii (spawn) — Widely distributed for cultivation on Korean farms, and much of what markets call sanghwang
- Hoof fungus group (wild) — Other brackets that grow on wood. Different species, differing in bracket shape and pore colour
- Log-grown and sawdust-grown (cultivation method) — Raised either on mulberry logs or on sawdust blocks. The substrate differs, and so do the hardness and the layering
Source: Donguibogam, Vegetable Section 桑耳 · Rural Development Administration (Nongsaro)