In my experience shiitakes perform best on Eucalyptus.
And... on the other subject that will inevitably be brought up...
I grow culinary mushrooms on Eucalyptus spp and eat 'em. Before I did though, I did some due diligence deep research and this is what I came up with:
The great majority of people who eat properly cooked Chicken-of-the-Woods enjoy the culinary experience. A small minority of people can get an upset stomach from Chicken-of-the-Woods due to the mushroom’s phenylethylamine alkaloids and / or due to undercooking their mushrooms.
Chicken-of-the-Woods is a wood-loving parasite and saprophyte. As it kills a tree and then consumes its decaying remains, it molecularly disassembles the compounds in the tree in an enzymatic process known as lysis.
Chicken-of-the-Woods is often found growing on
trees in the genus Eucalyptus.
Living Eucalyptus trees exhibit allelopathic effects which inhibit the growth of nearby plant species. Eucalyptus trees are often a targeted by
native plant enthusiasts (outside Australia) due to this tendency.
Eucalyptol (the major portion of eucalyptus oil) is used in cuisine for its pleasant fragrance and taste. Eucalyptus oil is also used as an herbal medicine (including by traditional Aboriginal people). It is enjoyed in food in small doses. In higher doses, eucalyptus additive oil flavorings can sometimes cause gastric upset in some people.
There is no current scientific evidence of Eucalyptus oils making their way into mushroom fruit bodies in quantities large
enough to cause gastric upset. In fact, saprophytic fungi (like Chicken-of-the-Woods and shiitake) are known to denature aromatics in their substrates.
There appears to be an inference that exists that claims the allelopathic compounds or oils in Eucalyptus trees may be to blame for for people’s upset stomachs after eating Chicken-of-the-Woods that had been growing on trees in this genus. There is no study yet proving or disproving the inference that either the oils or allelopathic compounds that are inhibiting surrounding plant growth are A. being uptaken by the mushrooms nor B. the cause of the tummy aches in the folks consuming them.
In Australia, native home of the genus Eucalyptus, shiitake mushrooms are grown commercially in large quantities on tree species in this genus. In fact, Field and Forest (a major mushroom spawn supplier in North America) lists that shiitake can be grown on Eucalyptus logs (
https://www.fieldforest.net/category/growing-outdoors#logs).
Under-cooked shiitake mushrooms can cause a rash (shiitake flagellate dermatitis) in a minority of people.
In blind taste tests, Australian chefs prefer the flavor and aroma of shiitake mushrooms grown on Eucalyptus wood and offer them to the public all the time. The implication here being that culinary mushrooms are in fact uptaking some of the micronutrients from certain respective wood species. However, Australian chefs - being adept at thoroughly and properly cooking mushrooms - do not complain about upset tummies from eating shiitake mushrooms grown on their preferred wood species: Eucalyptus.
I have personally spoken with many people who have enjoyed their experience eating culinary mushrooms grown on Eucalyptus wood and I have (anecdotally) never met a person who has claimed to have gotten an upset tummy from eating any Chicken-of-the-Woods or shiitake mushroom or any other culinary mushroom (eg. oysters) growing on Eucalyptus. Not that these upset tummies aren’t out there, they just appear to be in a small minority and the exact cause of the upset has yet to be pinpointed (Undercooking? Personal allergy to a particular mushroom species? Eucalyptus oil or compound?). One local mushroom forager and cultivator I spoke with who eats lots of culinary mushrooms, including plenty from Eucalyptus, reports no ill effects from eating Chicken-of-the-Woods or shiitake mushrooms growing from these trees and recommends to those concerned that this might be the cause of their upset tummies to “throw the first flush of the mushrooms on the inoculated Eucalyptus out as the first flush often contains the highest concentration of the wood’s compounds. Then test out the second flush – with a well-cooked, small quantity – and see how your body handles it.”
After all this deep research and numerous personal very tasty, happy tummy meals from culinary mushrooms grown on Eucalyptus I therefore concluded that:
Most people who eat properly cooked Chicken-of-the-Woods, shiitakes, and other culinary mushrooms grown on Eucalyptus wood have a delectably positive experience and Australian chefs seek these Eucalyptus-grown culinary mushrooms out for their superior flavors and aromas.
Some people get upset tummies or rashes eating certain culinary mushrooms that a majority of people do not have issues metabolizing, likely because the offending mushrooms were undercooked. Best practice: if it’s your first time eating a new-to-you culinary mushroom species, be sure to thoroughly cook it and just eat a small quantity first and see how your body reacts before eating more.
Not only is there no scientific evidence that the oils or alellopathic compounds of Eucalyptus trees are the cause of people’s upset tummies after having eaten a culinary mushroom growing from one these woods, it’s more likely that these saprophytic mushroom’s enzymatic process of lysis is actually converting these compounds into scrumptious flavors and aromas and that some folks are either not thoroughly cooking their mushrooms or are possibly allergic to a certain mushroom species.
Below is a photo of shiitakes fruiting on a Eucalyptus totem from a log inoculation
workshop I held last February. A participant took this inoculated bolt home and just sent me this photo a couple of weeks ago. He and his whole family harvested, properly cooked and ate the shiitakes from the growing from the Eucalyptus we inoculated. They enjoyed the flavor of the Eucalyptus-grown shiitake mushrooms and did not report any tummy aches.
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