Enokitake

Enokitake (Japanese language：榎茸, エノキタケ) or Enoki (Japanese language：榎, エノキ)^[1] is a long, thin white mushroom used in East Asian cuisine (such as that of China, Japan and Korea).

These mushrooms are cultivars of Flammulina velutipes, also known by the name, "golden needle mushroom". Wild forms differing in color, texture, and sliminess are called winter mushrooms, velvet foot or velvet stem, amongst other names.

This mushroom is available fresh or canned, with experts recommending fresh enoki specimens with firm, white, shiny caps, rather than those with slimy or brownish stalks that are best avoided.^{[citation needed]}

Enokitake mushrooms contain antioxidants,^[4][5] like ergothioneine.^[5] and animal testing has indicated possible applications in the development of vaccines and cancer immunotherapy.^[6]
Research at the National University of Singapore, first published in 2005, stated that the stalk of the golden needle mushroom contains a large quantity of a protein, named "Five" by the researchers, that helps in the regulation of the immune system. The mushroom also contains flammutoxin, a cytolytic and cardiotoxic protein^[7][8] that has proven to be non-toxic when absorbed orally.^[9]