consciouseating
University of California-Berkeley
research scientist and Mycologist Christopher Hobbs, Ph.D., explains that shiitake and oyster mushrooms follow the button as the most widely cultivated around the world. “They come in many colors, varieties and species and are typically the most easily digested and utilized of all mushrooms,” he notes. “Mushrooms are an amazing health food,” says Hobbs. “Most edible fungi are high in fiber, good-quality protein, key vitamins, micronutrients, phosphorous and potassium, and low in fat and calories. It’s one of nature’s perfect diet foods.”
Mushroom Magic Delicate Powerhouses
Culinary of Nutrition and Medicine by Case Adams M
ushrooms have played a remarkable role in human history. Egyptian hieroglyph- ics dating back 4,500 years linked mushrooms to immortality. The famous 5,300-year-old “iceman” found frozen in 1991 in the Tyrolean Alps carried a sachet containing the mushroom species Piptoporus betulinus—the birch polypore. Greek writings of Hip- pocrates, Pliny, Dioscorides, Galen and others regarded the mushroom Fomitopsis officinalis (agarikon) as a panacea.
While enthusiasm later waned in Europe, with John Farley characteriz- ing mushrooms in his 1784 book, The London Art of Cookery, as “treacher- ous gratifications,” Native American Indians used varieties such as puffballs (Calvatia and Lycoperdon species) for rheumatism, congested organs and other diseased conditions. Yet, mod-
26 Hudson County
NAHudson.com
ern-day culinary connoisseurs owe the recent surge in interest in fungal deli- cacies more to Japanese and Chinese traditions, which have consistently advanced mushrooms’ nutritional and medicinal uses. Ancient Chinese medical texts, including the Hanshu (82 CE) even refer to the famed reishi mushroom (Ganoderma lucidum) as the “mushroom of immortality”. Today, fungi cuisine in the West is typically limited to Agaracus bispo- rus—the relatively mild button mush- room, which matures into the ac- claimed portobello. But digging deeper into available options reveals chante- relle (Cantharellus sp.), oyster (Pleu- rotus ostreatus), morel (Morchella sp.) and shiitake (Lentinula edodes) species. These culinary mushrooms provide a virtuosity of delicate flavors harboring nutritional and medicinal benefits, according to those that study them.
As protein powerhouses, portobello and other button mushrooms, shiitake and oyster varieties all deliver between 30 and 35 percent protein by weight. The fiber content can range from 20 grams per 100 grams (about 3.5 ounces) in the case of portobello to a lofty 48 grams per 100 grams in the Phoenix oyster mushroom.
pantothenic acid (B5
Mushrooms also supply potent B vitamins. One hundred grams (about 3.5 ounces) of portobello contains more than four milligrams (mg) of ribo- flavin (B2
), 69 mg niacin (B3 ). Shiitake’s com-
parable numbers are three, 106 and 17 while pink oyster delivers 2.45, 66 and 33 mg of the three nutrients. Thus, they deliver significantly more than recom- mended daily allowances (RDA)—for example, niacin’s adult RDA ranges from 14 to 16 mg and riboflavin’s is just 1.1 to 1.3 mg.
Mushrooms also present one of the few food sources of vitamin D— primarily D2
ing to U.S. Department of Agriculture research. Also, their D2
small amounts of vitamin D3 levels spike
dramatically when sun-dried spore- side-up, confirmed in research by internationally recognized Mycologist Paul Stamets.
Mushrooms contain important minerals, too. Portobello contains 4,500 mg, oyster 4,500 mg and shiitake 2,700 mg of potassium per 100 grams, all with low sodium levels. Plus, they deliver usable amounts of copper, zinc and selenium.
Beyond the nutrient numbers
—but some also contain , accord-
) and 12 mg
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