Instead of cutting the Shiitake mushrooms with a knife try pulling the into pieces of desirable size. Though we love the precision of a knife, we believe it's important to connect with our food through our hands. We feel so grateful for the mushrooms—for their provision of our livelihoods and for the ways that they nourish our bodies. A gentle connection through touch feels like telling them “thank you”!

Aromatic Shiitake Broth

Serves 4 (adjust based on your share size!)

Ingredients

4 cups vegetable stock

1 tablespoon sake

1 tablespoon soy sauce (1 ½ teaspoons if using store-bought broth)

1 small carrot, thinly sliced

1/4 pound shiitake mushrooms

Fine sea salt

1 lemon, cut into wedges

1 lime, cut into wedges

In a saucepan over medium heat, reduce the vegetable stock to 1 cup to concentrate the flavor. Add the sake, soy sauce, carrot, and shiitakes to the stock and bring to the barest wisp of a boil. Then turn the heat to its lowest setting, cover, and cook, infusing the broth with the perfume of the shiitake, 6 to 8 minutes. Taste a mushroom and a carrot for tenderness. Season the broth to taste with salt. 

To channel a more traditional way of serving shiitake broth, you can serve in a teapot and offer chopsticks to guests to pick pieces of mushroom and carrot out of the communal pot. If you have covered teacups or even miso cups, use those. Offer lemon and lime wedges at the table and squeeze a few drops in each bowl. The broth is best appreciated when you lift the lid off of your cup or bowl and inhale the aroma!