"They can grow on any wood, but we use the white oak."

It's the shiitake mushroom, a 6,000-year-old Oriental delicacy -- nutty and a little smoky in flavor, and a nutritional work of art.

"They look like they've been painted."

They're fruited on 12,000 logs sheltered by cedars. Earnie Bohner puts 25 years of experience into turning fresh picked fungus into award winning soup kits, sauces, and other recipes.

Normally at Persimmon Hill Farm, they pick about 100 pounds a week to take care of orders. But Hurricane Ike turned out to be the perfect storm. All of the misery, mold, and devastation from flooding from the hurricane drained out as the ideal amount of rain and temperatures over the Ozarks.

"Now they're picking half a ton"!

Bohner's mushrooms are certified organic. And, as he weighed up a year's crop produced in just one month, he had a little friendly word of warning to amateurs sharing the wild varieties found in the woods.

"Pick twice as many as you need and, if they call you back, they're okay."

For more information visit Persimmon Hill's Web site