These days it is easy to find a variety of Japanese products all over New York City.  You don’t need to go to a Japanese supermarket to buy soy sauce, mirin, and sake anymore.  Places like Whole Foods and other supermarkets carry these items.  Shiitake mushrooms are one of the items that you can find almost anywhere.  However I had been finding it difficult to get dried organic shiitake mushrooms.  Most of the dried shiitake mushrooms sold in American and Japanese supermarkets are imported from China.

However, the other day when I was in Whole Foods I found a brand of Organic Shiitake mushrooms that are produced in the U.S..  These organic dried mushrooms are made by the brand Fungus among us.  They are sold at Whole foods but you can also purchase them online along with many other dried organic and non-organic products.  I used them to make dashi (soup stock) and the flavor that came out of them was very strong and delicious.  You can make vegetarian soup stocks from these dried shiitake mushrooms.  Try it for yourself!