MUSHROOMS:
The Amazing Fungus Among Us
By Jenny Hammer
Technically, a mushroom is the fleshy, spore-bearing
fruiting body of a fungus. Sounds awful, doesn’t it?
Who would think that eating fungus -- something
that grows on decaying wood and other organic matter
-- could be so delicious and nutritious? Mushrooms
are amazing, and they’re available in such variety that
you’ll never get tired of eating them.
Most of us know of brown button, white button,
shiitake, and portobello/portabella mushrooms. Maybe
you’ve used enoki mushrooms in soups. There are
also oyster, reishi, maitake, chanterelles, crimini (baby
portobellos), porcini, king trumpets, and many others,
with prices for them varying all the way to black
truffles (at $16.00+ per ounce!).
There are also dried mushrooms like tree ears, wood
ears, and black fungus (usually sold in Asian markets),
whose blood-thinning, anti-clot properties have been
compared to those of the drug, warfarin (without the
side effects).
Did you know that mushrooms are a non-animal/
non-dairy source of vitamin D? That the compound,
lentinan -- found in shiitake mushrooms -- may have
a cholesterol-lowering action, as well as anti-tumor,
antiviral, and immune-stimulating effects? That the
largest living organism on the planet is not an elephant
or a blue whale but a fungus growing in Oregon? This
fungus is four square miles in area, but, apparently, the
honey mushrooms it produces are not very tasty.
Market mushrooms, however, are tasty; they’re
meaty and dense. They are also high in fiber, fat- and
cholesterol-free, and full of minerals and vitamins
that our bodies need, such as niacin and riboflavin
(1/3 of the RDA for each in a one-cup serving),