Science and Education Publishing Journal of Food and Nutrition Research 2333-1240 3 8 2015 10 08 Chemical Composition and Nutritional Value of the Mushroom Auricularia auricula-judae 478 482 EN Irina A. Kadnikova Rui Costa Research Centre for Natural Resources, Environment and Society (CERNAS), College of Agriculture of the Polytechnic Institute of Coimbra, Bencanta, Portugal Tatiana K. Kalenik Olga N. Guruleva Shi Yanguo JFNR2015381 10.12691/jfnr-3-8-1 2015 08 13 2015 09 09 2015 10 08 Chemical composition of Auricularia auricula-judae fungus, used as a raw material for producing therapeutic and medicinal agents and as a food material has not been reported yet. Main components of this cultivated fungus (ash, protein, fat, total carbohydrate), water-soluble polysaccharide, cellulose, chitin, pectin, uronic acids, amino acid and mineral element contents, as well as neutral sugar composition were determined. This fungus contains 3.6% of ash, 12.5% of protein, 1.7% of fat and a large amount of carbohydrates (66.1%) per dry matter. Gas-liquid chromatography demonstrated the following monosaccharide composition of dry biomass: glucose (15.0%), mannose (10.7%), xylose (1.5%), galactose (0.6%). A. auricula-judae was shown to be a good source of almost all essential amino acids (34.7% of total) as compared to plant proteins, with the umami taste aminoacids present in content typical of mushrooms (25%). Its average calorific value is 327.7 kcal/100 g of dry matter. Results showed this fungus is a good source of healthy nutrients.