Black Jelly Mushroom

Scientific name: Auricularia polytricha

Other names: Wood ear mushroom, Black jelly mushroom, Muk nge

Characteristics:      (1) Ear-shaped gelatinous cup fungus

(2) Colour: purplish grey, brown to dingy brown

(3) 2 - 15 cm broad

(4) Covered with a medulla of fine hairs

(5) Smooth surface that wrinkled in the center and upturned towards the outer edges.

Nutritional values:

High in protein, fiber, calcium and zinc; Low in fat (Lu & Tang, 1986)

Medicinal properties:

(1) Hypocholesterolemia - lowers cholesterol levels in blood (Kaneda & Tokuda, 1966)

(2) Hypolipidemic - lowers lipid concentration in blood (Yang et al., 2002)

(3) Hypoglycaemic - lowers blood glucose level

(4) Antioxidant

(5) Genoprotective

(6) Antibacterial effects against Gram-positive bacteria (Lu & Tang, 1986)

Sources:

(a) Wild About Mushrooms: Ear Mushrooms

(b) Medicine at Your Feet: Plants and Food

(c) Kaneda, T. and Tokuda, S. (1966) Effects of various mushroom preparations on cholesterol levels in rats. Journal of Nutrition 90: 371-376.

(d) Lu, J. V. and Tang, A. V. (1986) Cellulolytic enzymes and antibacterial activity of Auricularia polytricha. Journal of Food Science 51(3): 668-669.

(e) Yang, B. K., Ha, J. Y., Jeong, S. C., Jeon, Y. J., Ra, K. S., Das, S., Yun, J. W., and Song, C. H. (2002) Hypolipidemic effect of an exo-biopolymer produced from submerged mycelial culture of Auricularia polytricha in rats. Biotechnology Letters 24: 1319-1325.