Comments on: Instant Jew’s Ear Fungus

By: J.M.M.

J.M.M. — Sat, 08 Oct 2011 00:03:35 +0000

Jew’s harp and now Jew’s ear? Jews are named after weirdnesses it seems.

By: Mark

Mark — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 19:09:30 +0000

There’s also Jew’s Ear Juice: goo.gl/CIfJ

By: pacalolo

pacalolo — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 16:32:40 +0000

Just had this at Little Sheep Hot Pot in San Mateo. It was delicious!! It was listed on the menu as “wild tree fungus.” Needless to say I found its true name a little ironic after some research. Thx for the post.

By: themicah

themicah — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 20:09:24 +0000

Can’t quite see the fourth character, but the label looks like it says 天然木耳 (literally, “natural wood ear”), which is pretty common in Chinese cooking (and very tasty!).

You can buy dried (hence “instant” since you add water before cooking like any dried mushroom or fungus) 木耳 at just about any Asian grocery store–and plenty of mainstream North American grocery stores if they have a decent mushroom selection. But it’s not usually labeled “Jew’s ear.”

I didn’t even realize until just now that one of the English translations of 木耳 was Jew’s Ear (I’ve always just referred to it as “wood ear” or “tree fungus”), but it’s right there on the wikipedia page and as wendy pointed out the Latin name even includes “judae” in it. Interesting.

The weird part from my perspective is that the contents of the package look more like a jumble of chili peppers than 木耳, although it could be 木耳 with some chilis thrown in for good measure.

By: themiddle

themiddle — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 19:02:38 +0000

I loved this post. I laughed, I cried.

By: Larry

Larry — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 18:37:59 +0000

1. I was just at the NY Public Library midtown branch at lunch, and saw a fungus in a Jewish ear. It was not pleasant. I hear instant Jewess ear is better

2. Thank god that Asian entrepreneurs have found the secret for instand Jew Ear fungus. It saves so much time. I used to spend 30 minutes slow cooking Jews Ear Fungus.

3. I hope you know that this product is a directretribution for all those Orthodox synagogues who, to this day, still have Chinese Auction fundraisers, as if “Chinese” means backwards. Hey! Wake up and smell the ramen.