Waste not, Want not

Just like making almond milk leaves you with almond mash that is too good to throw away, cooking with shitaake mushrooms can leave you with tough little stems that need to be repurposed.

When I'm making soup with shitaake mushrooms, I don't like to include the stems because they can be pretty tough. I usually thow tasty little veggies like mushroom stems into my "broth bag" in the freezer to save for the next time I make broth, but now they have a better purpose.

Shitaake Mushroom Jerky!

I have to give all credit for this idea to a woman I've never met.  She's a friend of my coworker/friend Nick's partner Sarah.  She's traveling now, but can pass on recipe specifics when she returns.  

For now, all I know is that the mushroom stems are marinated in soy sauce, lots of ginger, garlic, and molasses.  Then they're dehydrated in a low-temperature oven.  

I probably ate a full cup of this jerky yesterday.  I'm convinced that if we all snacked on this instead of junk, no one would get cancer.  Just think of all the great nutritents in these little stems!  Plus, they're chewy, salty, and delicious!