Shiitake mushroom, (Lentinula edodes), used in this study was
harvested in November from a local farm in Hangzhou, China.
The mushrooms were transported to the laboratory within 1 h
after picking, under refrigerated conditions, then stored in darkness
at 1 ± 1 C and 95% relative humidity (RH). The day after,
mushrooms were screened for uniform size and maturity and
absence of mechanical damage. In a preliminary experiment, we
tested a series of concentrations of each essential oil, including
clove, cinnamaldehyde and thyme, namely, 1, 5 and 10 ll l1. All
essential oils at the concentration of 1 or 5 ll l1 significantly
inhibited fruit decay, and 5 ll l1 had an even better effect. However,
10 ll l1 essential oil fumigation treatment caused some physiological
injuries, including discolouration or a smelly flavour, in
shiitake mushrooms (data not shown). Thus, a concentration of
5 ll l1 was chosen for these experiments. A total of 60 shiitake
mushrooms were placed in 2 l sealed polypropylene (PP) containers
with a filter paper inside the cover. A total of 10 ll of each
essential oil, including clove, thyme, and cinnamaldehyde, was
spotted onto the filter paper. These containers were kept at 10 C
and the essential oils were allowed to vapourise within the containers.
Afterward, sealed PP containers were opened and stored
for 20 days at 4 ± 1 C and 90% relative humidity (RH), and subsequently
every 5 days, three replicates from each treatment group
were analysed