Straw mushroom.

Straw mushrooms are picked young, while they're still closed and shaped like a small egg. The outside is grey to dark brown at the top, fading to white at the base, and cutting one in half shows a pale cap folded up inside a thin skin. They're named after the rice straw they are traditionally grown on. The texture is soft and slippery on the outside with a tender bite inside, and the taste is clean and savoury.

For many Thai cooks, tom yum isn't quite right without them. Pick firm, tightly closed ones. Once they start to open or feel soft, they're past their best.

Ways to use it

• Halve and add to tom yum or tom kha for the last few minutes.
• Stir fry with baby corn, morning glory or mixed vegetables and oyster sauce.
• Add to a red or jungle curry near the end.
• Halve, blanch briefly and toss into a spicy yam salad with herbs and lime.

Trim the dirty end of the base, rinse quickly and halve the larger ones just before cooking.

Storing it

Straw mushrooms don't keep long and don't like the cold. A fridge tends to make them soft and watery, so a cool, airy place out of the sun is better. Plan to cook them on the day you get them, or the next.

Where it comes from

Grown to certified organic standards. The certificate for each lot is shown when you trace your pack.

Every pack will carry a lot code. Enter it on the Trace your pack page and you will see the farms in that lot, the harvest date and the certificate.