Pickled King Oyster Mushrooms 2-Pack

A king oyster is nothing like the other four. The stem is the part worth eating — dense, close-grained, closer to a scallop than to a mushroom — and dense is slow. Thirty-two days is what it takes for brine to reach the middle of a cut coin rather than sitting on the outside of it.

The stems are hand-cut into coins before they go in, which is the only way to get an even result out of something that thick. Every batch is finished by hand with a final truffle pour before the jar is sealed, so the truffle sits on top of a finished ferment rather than spending a month in it. Then the same rest as everything else: about a month sealed, before release.

King oyster mushrooms, white balsamic, truffle oil, garlic, mustard seed, bay leaf, black peppercorns and sea salt.

White balsamic instead of the wine vinegars in our lighter jars — it has more body and a little sweetness, which a mushroom this substantial can take without being flattened. Truffle and king oyster is not a novel pairing, but the timing matters: poured at the end, it stays aromatic instead of fermenting away. Bay and mustard seed sit underneath. This is the only jar in the range with oil in it, and the richest thing we make.

The heavyweight. If you are buying one jar to put in front of people, it is usually this one.

Texturally it has nothing in common with the shimejis — white and black are small, tender and clustered, where this is firm and sliceable. Shiitake is the closer comparison and the only other jar in the savoury half of the range, but shiitake goes deep and umami where this goes rich and aromatic. Crimini is the everyday jar; this is not the everyday jar.

These are thick enough to be the thing on the plate rather than a garnish on it.

On a board, give them their own corner and no competition — next to something mild, a soft cheese or good bread, so the truffle has room. They are substantial enough to carry a vegetarian plate on their own. Warmed briefly in a pan they take on a scallop-like quality, which is the one exception to our usual rule about not cooking these: the stem is dense enough to survive heat that would ruin the lighter jars.

They also want a bigger drink than the others — something with weight rather than a crisp white.

Every jar is 480g net, 250g drained, and keeps sealed in a cupboard for twelve months. Once it is open it lives in the fridge and is best inside four weeks — though the brine keeps working the whole time, so the last forkful is a little sharper than the first. That is fermentation doing what it does, not the jar going over.