Mushrooms
People have been eating mushrooms for thousands of years. The earliest evidence of people eating mushrooms dates back to a few hundred years B.C.E in China. Mushrooms were not only part of Chinese cuisine, but were also widely used as medicine. In Ancient Greece and Rome, mushrooms were also a popular food, especially among the upper classes.
Some mushrooms are cultivated for consumption, but many cannot be. Wild mushrooms are usually more expensive since they are harder to come by. By far the most expensive are black and white truffles, mushrooms that grow only in southern France and northern Italy. Black truffles, which are more popular in French cuisine, usually cost hundreds of dollars per pound. White truffles are more favored in Italy and can sometimes reach prices ten times that of black truffles! Prized for their very rich flavor, these rare mushrooms are found by specially trained dogs known as truffle hounds. They are usually shaved onto a meal in small amounts just before the meal is served.
For obvious reasons, truffles are a delicacy and for most people will not be part of everyday fare. Other, more affordable, wild mushrooms include morel mushrooms and porchino mushrooms. Morels are cone-shaped and hollow inside. They are often used in cream-based sauces. Porchino mushrooms have brown caps and lighter stems with a cream-colored flesh. They are very tasty when sautéed in garlic and olive oil.
The most common edible mushrooms are cultivated. These include button (or white) mushrooms, portobello mushrooms, shitake mushrooms and cremini mushrooms. White mushrooms are most common. Portobello mushrooms are actually matured (and much larger) cremini mushrooms. They are known for their meat-like taste and texture, making them very popular among vegetarians. Cremini mushrooms, also known as “baby portobellos,” are in the same family as the common white (button) mushroom. Shitake mushrooms are probably the most exotic and most expensive cultivated mushroom. Also known as black forest mushrooms, shitake mushrooms are grown mostly in Japan, China and South Korea.
Mushrooms are great as a side dish or in recipes and salads. They have an earthy taste and meaty texture as well as a nice helping of some essential nutrients. Mushrooms are a good source of the minerals phosphorus, magnesium, potassium and selenium. Many of these minerals are lacking in the typical, highly processed western diet. Mushrooms are also a good source of fiber and they are very low in calories, containing almost no fat or cholesterol.