Umbrella Polypore

The Umbrella Polypore Mushroom (Polyporus umbellatus) is a polypore fungus (like Reishi and Turkey Tail) similar in texture and flavour to Maitake, but with a distinctive, branching and capped appearance. This structure makes them great for visual appeal and portioning, and like Maitake the divided branches work well as pizza topping, tempura, baking/roasting or sautéing to make mushroom chips or crumble for soups, stews, stir-fry, pasta, potato, salad, rice or noodle dishes. The whole mushroom lends itself well to the 'Mushroom Steak' method, where it's pressed flat in a skillet and flipped once for a searing on both sides. Folk-medicinally, the Umbrella Polypore is credited with immunostimulating, anticancer, anti-inflammatory, and hepatoprotective properties. Rather than growing directly from wood, like some other polypores, it first develops an underground tuber, which is itself gathered and used in Traditional Chinese Medicine to form teas and tinctures.