The Shiitake Mushroom Kit includes a five pound bag of Shiitake mushroom mycelium growing on hardwood sawdust and wheat bran. The mycelium is the vegetative stage of the mushroom life-cycle; the mushrooms are the fruits. In the box you will also find instructions, a compostable tent, and chopsticks for supporting the tent. Each kit arrives ready to give way to the freshest Shiitake mushrooms you can find. Just follow the instructions to bring forth homegrown gourmet mushrooms. The shiitake mushroom a native of east Asia, whose Japanese name simply means, “tree mushroom”, has been long regarded as a valuable source of food and medicine in the east for centuries, especially in China, Japan, Korea and Russia.