[[Image:|thumb|300px|right|Silver ear mushroom]]
Name Variations[]
- snow mushroom
- white fungus
- white jelly fungus
- white tree fungus
About Silver ear mushroom[]
The silver ear mushroom, Tremella fuciformis, is superficially similar to the wood ear, Auricularia polytricha. It is indigenous to Asia and is now sold in the United States. Until the 19th century, the silver ear was thought to be a wood-decomposing fungus, similar to the wood ear or the shiitake. Eventually it was discovered that the silver ear is actually a parasitic yeast-like fungus that attacks various ascomycete fungi in the genera of Hypoxylon and Annulohypoxylon. The silver ear only forms its distinctive, and prized fruiting bodies when it has successfully taken over a suitable host. Farming of the silver ear only became lucrative once it was understood that it was necessary to inoculate the growing medium with both silver ear and its host fungus. Silver ear mushroom are also named “jelly fungi” due to its natural form and appearance similar to the cauliflower, white to silvery color with wrinkled or consist of leaf-like folds, and it produces white, irregular, lobed shaped fruiting body. Silver ear mushroom is not very commonly used for food like other ear mushrooms because it is doesn’t have a rich flavor. Silver ear mushroom is very common in Chinese cuisine due to the fact that is rich in vitamin D and dietary fibers. Tremella mushroom is also a medicinal mushroom and is included in various recipes of cough syrup and it is commonly used in Asian herbal remedies to treat asthma, dry cough, tuberculosis or common cold.