There is a whole group of colourful, shiny fungi, known as Jelly fungi. The Jew's Ear Fungus is one such Jelly Fungi, and is found growing out of tree trunks and branches. The visible growth looks like little human ears.
And why is it known as Jew's Ears Fungus? Myth and legend link this fungus with Judas, who supposedly hanged himself to death, from an elder tree, after betraying Jesus Christ. As a result, the tree became known as the Judas tree. This type of tree often has these little Jelly fungi sprouting out of it, which became known as Judas's Ear. Over time, the name gradually changed to the similar-sounding Jew's Ear.
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Basic Instruction
Jew's Ear or Juda's Ear?Black Fungus Auricularia auricula-judae and its Special features...
Botanical Data of Black Fungus(Jew's Ear, Juda's Ear):
Latin name: Auricularia auricula-judae
Common name: Jew's Ear Fungus,black fungus,JEW'S EAR,Jew's-ear,Judas's Ear,Elder wood Fungus,pepeao
Size: Approximately 60mms across.The Jew's Ear fungus has a distinctive bowl-like shape when young becoming more lobed with age - it does resemble an ear!
Definition: Jew's-ear (n.):A widely distributed species of edible fungus (Auricularia auricula-judae, formerly Hirneola Auricula-Jud?, or Hirneola Auricula), bearing some resemblance to the human ear and growing on decaying wood.
It is a tasty fungus, and is popular in food of china.
Special features of Black Fungus(Jew's Ear Fungus, Juda's Ear):
The name comes from the story that Judas Iscariot hung himself from an elder tree, and this type of fungi is often found growing on elder trees.
It is pale brown in colour, and really does resemble a human ear in both size, shape and texture. As it gets older it goes black and hard.
It is one of the few fungi which has the ability to withstand freezing temperatures. This is a useful attribute, since it develops new growths in January, which is normally the coldest month of the year in Britain. It can actually freeze solid, and when thawed out shows no ill effects.
The order Auriculariales comprises some 50 European species in a single family, the Auriculariaceae. The name comes from their family characteristic of being lobed rather like an ear. Apart from Auricularia auricula-judae (Jews Ear Fungus) very few of these are commonly encountered.
Jew's Ear Fungus(Auricularia auricula-judae): Differentiation between Judas's Ear and Jew's Ear
According to some authors, the Jew's Ear should really be called Judas's Ear, as the fungus is most frequently found on Elder wood and it was from an Elder tree that Judas is supposed to have hung himself!
Jew's Ear Fungus:Name, Myth and legend
There is a whole group of colourful, shiny fungi, known as Jelly fungi. The Jew's Ear Fungus is one such Jelly Fungi, and is found growing out of tree trunks and branches. The visible growth looks like little human ears.
And why is it known as Jew's Ears Fungus? Myth and legend link this fungus with Judas, who supposedly hanged himself to death, from an elder tree, after betraying Jesus Christ. As a result, the tree became known as the Judas tree. This type of tree often has these little Jelly fungi sprouting out of it, which became known as Judas's Ear. Over time, the name gradually changed to the similar-sounding Jew's Ear.
Origin of Black Fungus(Jew's Ear, Juda's Ear):
Fungus refers to any of about 50,000 species of saprophytic and parasitic spore-producing organisms usually classified as plants that lack chlorophyll and include molds, rusts, mildews, smuts, mushrooms, and yeasts.
Black Fungus is the parasitic organism Auricularia auricula (L. ex Hook.), or Auricularia auricula-judae (Bull.) Wettst, of the belongs to Auriculariae family. Like jade fungus, this is a kind of fungus parasitic on the surface of woody and decayed trees where the weather is damp. It appears in the form of a human external auricle.
Fungus (Latin: "mushroom"), or Mycota (Greek: "mykes"), provide a critical part of nature's continuous rebirth: fungi recycle dead organic matter into useful nutrients by contributing to the disintegration of organic matter that results in the release of carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, and phosphorus from dead plants and animals into the soil or the atmosphere. Sometimes the fungus doesn't wait for the biomatter to die, in which case the fungus is called a parasite. Many plants, however, are dependent on the help of a fungus to get their own nutrients.
50,000 species of fungi have been described, but it has been estimated that the total number may be as high as 100,000¡V250,000. They can be found in the water, soil, air, plants, and animals of all regions of the world having sufficient moisture to enable them to grow.
The distribution of fungi is related to the availability of food and to moisture and temperature. The soil provides an ideal habitat for a large number of species. Most aquatic fungi prefer clean, cool waters. The optimum growth temperature is usually between 20 and 30 C.
In suitable environments, fungi can live for hundreds of years, and specimens of one genus, Armillaria, are among the oldest and largest of living organisms.
Since fungi possess no chlorophyll, they are unable to photosynthesize and must obtain their carbohydrates by secreting enzymes into the surface on which they are growing. The enzymes digest the food, which is then absorbed directly through the hyphal walls.
Saprophytic fungi live off dead organisms and are partly responsible for the decomposition of organic matter. Parasitic fungi invade living organisms to obtain their food, often causing disease and death.
Plants are the most common hosts, but humans and lower animals also serve as hosts. Symbiotic relationships include those between fungi and algae (lichen), plants (mycorrhizae), and certain insects.
Fungi were formerly classified in the plant kingdom and are still considered plants in some classification systems. The chitin in their structures and their ability to obtain food from an outside source, however, have caused many taxonomists to propose that they be classified in a separate kingdom, Fungi.
Black fungus has been cultivated in China for over 1,000 years. It is now grown in most areas in China. Also called Jew's Ear and Juda's Ear.
Property,Functions and Applications of Black Fungus:
Properties of Black Fungus: Sweet in flavor, mild in nature, it is related to the liver, stomach, lung and large intestine channels.
Functions of Black Fungus:
Cools the blood, arrests bleeding, benefits the flow of qi, nourishes the middle region, produces body fluids to nourish the stomach and lubricate the lungs.
Essential to many household and industrial processes, fungi are also used in the production of enzymes, organic acids, vitamins, and antibiotics. Penicillin, a green mold whose abilities to inhibit the growth of bacteria were first discovered by Alexander Fleming in 1928, is just one of many fungi with beneficial effects on the human environment. Fungi also can destroy crops, cause such diseases as athlete's foot and ringworm, and ruin clothing and food with mildew and rot.
Applications of Black Fungus:
Black fungus is often used by the Chinese as a blood tonic, discharging blood from the anus, treating bloody dysentery, unusual vaginal bleeding and hemorrhoids.
1. To treat anaemia (too few red blood cells in the bloodstream, resulting in insufficient oxygen to tissues and organs):
Immerse 15 g black fungus and 15 pieces of Chinese red dates in water for 1 hour. Add some rock sugar and steam with slow fire for another hour until sticky. Serve twice daily.
2. To treat anaemia (a condition in which the blood is deficient in red blood cells) and general weakness:
Use 15 g dry black fungus, 4 hen's eggs, 100 g spinach, 100 g pork in slices of shreds. Fry each ingredient separately and then mix together to serve as a side dish.
Dosage and Administration: 6-10 g.
Modern Researches Black Fungus(Jew's Ear, Juda's Ear):
It is rich in protein. Each 100 g contains 10.6 g protein, 357 mg calcium, 201 mg phosphorus, 185 mg iron. It also contains carrotene, vitamins B1 and B2, mannan, glucuronic acid, lecithin, and cephalin.
It is a very good blood tonic, containing 7 times as much iron as pig's liver. It also possesses powerful inhibitions to the agglutinating tendency of blood platelets and helps to lower the level of blood lipids, including blood cholesterol. Recent reports reveal that constant consumption of this fungus is also helpful for the prevention of tumors.
Fungi are low in calories and are therefore a useful food to include in weight-loss diets.
There are two kinds of this edible fungus, black and white. Formerly, the black fungus was a common food in daily use, while the white was claimed to be a good tonic. Nowadays, both fungi can be cultivated in the garden and the white fungus is also commonly applied.
Nutritional Value of Black Fungus(Jew's Ear, Juda's Ear):
*Nutritional Information for JEW'S EAR,(PEPEAO),DRIED.
Scientific References:
1.Jew's Ear or Juda's Ear?Black Fungus Auricularia auricula-judae and its Special features...
Claims & Warning:
Claims: Information this web site presented is meant for Nutritional Benefit and as an educational starting point only, for use in maintenance and promotion good health in cooperation with a common knowledge base reference...Furthermore,it based solely on the traditional and historic use or legend of a given herb from the garden of Adonis. Although every effort has been made to ensure its accurate, please note that some info may be outdated by more recent scientific developments......
Pharmakon Warning: The order of knowledge is not the transparent order of forms and ideas,as one might be tempted retrospectively to interpret it; it is the antidote....(Dissemination,Plato's Pharmacy,II.The Ingredients:Phantasms,Festivals,and Paints;138cf. Jacques Derrida.).
And as it happens,the technique of imitation,along with the production of the simulacrum,has always been in Plato's eyes manifestly magical,thaumaturgical:......and the same things appear bent and straight to those who view them in water and out,or concave and convex,owing to similar errors of vision about colors, and there is obviously every confusion of this sort in our souls.And so scene painting (skiagraphia) in its exploitation of this weakness of four nature falls nothing short of witchcraft (thaumatopoia), and so do jugglery and many other such contrivances.(Republic X,602c-d;cf.also 607c).