Ectomycorrhizal fungi are associated with plants roots and acquire significant amounts of nitrogen sources from the soil. For artificial cultivation, mass production of ectomycorrhizal fungi in liquid media is required. We studied the edible ectomycorrhizal mushrooms Hygrophorus russula, Ramaria fumigata, Sarcodon aspratus, and Tricholoma matsutake. All strains except S. aspratus NIFoS 2031 grew generally well on modified Melin-Norkran’s (MMN) medium compared to on other media. All strains analyzed in this study showed significantly higher growth on organic nitrogen. Specifically, two strains of H. russula significantly responded to both tryptone and neopeptone media. Among different species and strains, there were clear differences in the capacity to grow on animal-based organic nitrogen sources.