Small but powerful. It’s difficult to imagine another organism capable of so much and yet so often overlooked. We might be more familiar with mushrooms than we think. Most of us are already familiar with fungal fermented bi-products such as beer or Kombucha (a drink made by fermenting tea and sugar with the Kombucha culture). The button mushroom that we all know and love, for the most part, is the most common mushroom found on pizzas and pastas. But there are hundreds of mushroom. Some are poisonous and some are medicinal. What makes this type of fungus so unique? It grows around plants and on soil so a lot of people confuse it with a species of plant. Or perhaps you’ve heard that it’s something between an animal and a plant. So what exactly is a mushroom?

All mushrooms are a type of Fungi that, like animals, are heterotrophs. This means they must get their food from the environment. They are not autotrophs, like plants, who make their own food form sunlight through photosynthesis, so they don’t need light to grow. All mushrooms are fungi but not all fungi is in the form of a mushroom. You can open your dark fruit drawer in the fridge and find mold growing on your apple or find it on your bread. Bread mold is just another type of fungus, although not a mushroom, that takes advantage of it’s surroundings.

As the fleshy body of the fungus, the mushroom absorbs nutrients from its surroundings. It is an opportunistic organism that has the ability to break down and convert even the most unfavourable surroundings into food. You can visit www.ted.com for a fascinating talk given by Paul Stamets, a specialist in the field, on 6 ways mushrooms can save the world. Mushrooms don’t need a lot to grow, and some people enjoy growing mushrooms even in their own homes. You can buy a kit or visit http://www.mycosource.com/ for kit info and “do it your self” advice on how to grow your own gourmet meal at home!

Lets get back to some of the most delicious mushrooms around. Button mushrooms can easily be served cold in salads, or hot on pizzas and sauteed as a side dish. Replace button mushrooms with Cremini’s for a more full body gourmet taste. Make any meat dish vegetarian by replacing the meat with Portobello caps, marinated, grilled or fried. They’ll enrich your dish both in taste and nutrition. Another great meat replacement are Shiitake, which are also extensively used in Oriental cuisine. Last but not least, Oyster mushrooms add a gentle seafood flavour to your pastas. So long as they are fresh, mushrooms are guaranteed to add a variety of flavour to your dishes whatever method you choose to cook them by. 

When selecting, ensure that the mushrooms are firm and mostly uniform in colour. Keep them in the refrigerator between the temperatures of 0°C to 2°C (basically average fridge temp) and in a paper bag so they can breathe easily and stay firm for longer.

Interesting
-mushrooms are high in VIt B1, B2 and D. Also high in Niacin, protein and anti-oxidants
-humans share a more recent relative with fungi than with plants
-toxic mushrooms are used by some people as a hallucinogenic drug
-there are 6 times more species of fungi than species of plants
-Some moulds continue growing at low temps (-7°C ) because their metabolic process’s generate heat
-fermented fungal bi-products include cheese and beer
-the red mushroom with white polka dots from the video game “Mario” is a real mushroom that is poisonous when eaten

Visit www.mushrooms.ca for more mushroom info!

Mushroom Crepes

Crepes
1 egg
½ cup milk
⅓ cup flour
pink of sugar
pinch of salt
pinch of pepper
tsp butter

Mix egg and milk well. Add flour, sugar, salt, and pepper. Preheat pan to med-high and melt butter. Pour one ladle full on pan and spread out evenly. Let cook. Flip and cook on other side. Remove from heat when golden brown. Set aside keep warm.

Filling

1 tbsp olive oil
¼ cup onion, chopped
¾ cup mushroom of choice ( cremini recommended)
1 tsp thyme
3 tbsp of mayo
1 tsp white wine vinegar

On same pan pour olive oil and fry chopped onion till slightly translucent. Add mushrooms and thyme, sautee. Add mayo and vinegar. Salt and pepper to taste.

Put mushroom filling in crepe and roll. (optional: grate cheese of choice on top )
Serve warm!

Tags: fungi, mushroom, paul stamets, recipe