
Dry goods & condiments
Black Fungus (Wan Yee)
A small, thin dried ear fungus commonly sold in Hong Kong, generally finer than wood ear.
- 繁體中文
- 雲耳
- English
- Black Fungus (Wan Yee)
- Bahasa Indonesia
- Black Fungus / Wan Yee (雲耳)
- Tagalog
- Black Fungus / Wan Yee (雲耳)
What is it?
A small, thin dried ear fungus commonly sold in Hong Kong, generally finer than wood ear.
How to identify it
Dry pieces are small, curled, dark brown to black and thin; after soaking they open into delicate, crisp ear-shaped pieces.
- Usually smaller pieces
- Thin curled lobes
- Delicate crisp texture after soaking
Common confusion
Cloud ear is generally smaller/thinner; wood ear generally larger/thicker. Treat this as a market guide and trust the label.
Common Hong Kong household uses
Common in steamed dishes, stir-fries, soups and cold dishes.
Preparation or handling
Rinse under running water and soak in a clean container for at most two hours at room temperature; refrigerate if longer. Cook promptly.
Storage
Keep dry pieces sealed from moisture. Refrigerate during longer soaking and use soaked fungus promptly.
Helper tip
Cloud ear is usually smaller and thinner than wood ear, but names and grades overlap; check the original package.
What Ma’am or Sir may say
今次要雲耳,細片薄身嗰種。The request is for the smaller, thinner cloud ear, not the generally larger, thicker wood ear.
Useful market phrase
Please give me 雲耳, not the large 木耳.Does the image look correct?
Last reviewed
Sources
- Hong Kong Food and Environmental Hygiene Department — Public Market Items - Other Foods
- Hong Kong Food and Environmental Hygiene Department — Public Market Items Multilingual Booklet
- Hong Kong Food and Environmental Hygiene Department — Other foods Cantonese pinyin
- Hong Kong Centre for Food Safety — Soaking Mushrooms and Food Safety
- The Chinese University of Hong Kong — Hong Kong Discovery - Six Edible Fungi