The Jew’s Ear Juice
Really, what sounds more appetizing than juice from a Jew's ear, especially "Quality Jew's ear selected from Changbai Mountain?"
I'm actually pretty nervous to try it. From the Chinese name, 黑木耳露 （Hei1 Mu4 Er3 Lu4）, I know that it's wood ear juice. Wood ear (evidently a.k.a. Jew's ear) is a fungus that's pretty common in Chinese dishes, but I would never think about drinking it.
It's a nasty-looking thick semi-transparent cloudy brown liquid. It's smell is weird, like a mix between the apple vinegar drink and turkey gravy. It's a little thick and slimy, but the flavor is actually mild. The flavor isn't anything at all like the cooked wood ear that I'm used to eating.
It's so strange that it tastes like bland, bad, old apple cider, that I decided to check the ingredients. The Jew's Ear Juice is made of: pure water, black wood ear (Jew's ear), haw (Chinese hawthorn), big Chinese date, sugar, honey, sodium of citric acid, and stabilizer.
It all makes sense now, the strange appley flavor is coming from the haw. It does taste similar to hawthorne juice now that I think of it.
Well, the can says that if you drink the Jew's ear juice cold, it's clear and refreshing, but you can heat it up to make it more "densely" fragrant. I gotta try it.
Wow this stuff heats up fast. Granted, I only heated a little bit, but I think due to the thickness or sugar or something, it started boiling after about 20 seconds in the microwave.
They were right about the smell, it is definitely denser. The strange thing is that it now smells more like food, almost like spaghetti-o's. Believe it or not, Jew's ear juice actually tastes better hot. Maybe it's the thickness, but I think it's just that wood ear is usually served cold, and when the juice is hot it reminds me less that I'm drinking fungus juice.
As a special bonus it came with a Jew's Ear Juice Bottle Opener! What a great souvenir. I will be the hit of all the parties from now on.
*Update: Since I've gotten a lot of questions from readers as to what Jew's ear actually is, I found this beautiful picture of one by Jenny Downing. You can definitely see where this fungus gets the name "wood ear. "
15 Comments
where can i buy some The Jew’s Ear Juice?
Michael,
As far as I know, it's only for sale in China. I'm not sure if it's for sale online yet
-Joe
I am in Yiwu, China and I found it in Tesco. I don't know which is weirder the name or the fact that it's mushroom juice!
I don't get the name. why not call it mushroom juice? why Jew's ear? Why not Buddhist's ear or Muslim's ear? or methodist's ear?
Well, Andita, a long time ago, people made up a non-PC name for wood ear fungus, and it stuck around in English. It comes with its own story, about Judas hanging himself on the type of tree on which the fungus grows.
Eventually, biologists started calling the fungus "jelly ear fungus," and most translation-checked Chinese cuisine-related writing (the fungus is much more common in Chinese cuisine) called it wood ear. But I bet this company just used a literal translation of what was the common English term, understandably, and it led to confusion.
Alternately, the name sells well among amused English speakers, like that lovely Jamaican product Cock Soup. Or they think English speakers would be reluctant to try a drink that actually mentioned it was made of fungus, or wood, but that they wouldn't believe it was made from ear, and maybe would think it's a fruit or something.
Andita: "jew's ear" is the name of the fungus (Auricularia auricula-judae) it is made from. (The Latin name means "ear of Judas"--apparently because it grows on elder trees, which is the kind of tree Judas Iscariot hanged himself from).
I suspect it's not "Buddhist's ear" or such because *that* would sound unappetizing.
i just harvested some atheist ear juice, but then i threw the q-tip away.
Is there any chance that the name, rather than actually referring to the mushroom that is being used, is an attempt to render the phrase, The Jucier Juice, which goes with some juice, I don't recall which, in the U.S.?
The name "Jew's Ear" comes from the claim, somewhere in history, that Judas' biblical hanging caused the trees to grow with his ears. (jewish and judas have the same root)
I am looking at that picture of the fungus and at my dad's ears and the similarities are glaring. If there was gray hair coming out of the bottom of the fungus you wouldn't be able to tell the difference. The Chinese might be on to something, maybe I'll try sucking my wife's ear...
We have a very common, purplish vine ground weed in California called the wandering Jew. It could make a nice drink but I doubt it since people are so aunty-Semitic.
Wow, I've never heard of such a thing. It sounds ridiculous and racist but I guess it's just what they call that mushroom. I'm definitely going to send this around to some of my friends, lol.
This is so awesome. A comment from my own blog pointed me here. Your article is so informative and well-written. Thanks for clearing up the mystery of the "Jew's ear."
Id' love a Jew's Ear Juice bottle opener!! Could you get a few and pop it on ebay?
LOL @ Da Juice and Brad!
Of all the juice drinks I've had, my favorite is, "Confucius' Belly Button Lint Juice."