Thursday June 11, 2020 – Mushrooms

After a recent rain, I see mushrooms sprouting in the grass. I will confess that I do not like cooked mushrooms but have learned to eat them raw in salads. It’s the rubbery texture I don’t like. The information about mushrooms below is according to Wikipedia.

Amanita muscaria

Etymology

The terms "mushroom" and "toadstool" go back centuries and were never precisely defined, nor was there consensus on application. During the 15th and 16th centuries, the terms mushrom, mushrum, muscheron, mousheroms, mussheron or musserouns were used.

The term "mushroom" and its variations may have been derived from the French word mousseron in reference to moss. Delineation between edible and poisonous fungi is not clear-cut, so a "mushroom" may be edible, poisonous or unpalatable.

Cultural or social phobias of mushrooms and fungi may be related. The term "fungophobia" was coined by William Delisle Hay of England, who noted a national superstition or fear of "toadstools."

The word "toadstool" has apparent analogies in Dutch and German. In German folklore and old fairy tales, toads are often depicted sitting on toadstool mushrooms and catching — with their tongues — the flies that are said to be drawn to the Fliegenpilz, a German name for the toadstool, meaning "flies' mushroom."

Amanita muscaria, the most easily recognized “toadstool,” is frequently depicted in fairy stories and on greeting cards. It is often associated with gnomes. It is also a toxic mushroom commonly known as “fly agaric.”

Mushroom emerging through asphalt in summer

Growth

Many species of mushrooms seemingly appear overnight, growing or expanding rapidly. This phenomenon is the source of several common expressions in the English language including "to mushroom" or "mushrooming" — expanding rapidly in size or scope — and "to pop up like a mushroom," to appear unexpectedly and quickly. In reality, all species of mushrooms take several days to form primordial mushroom fruit bodies, though they do expand rapidly by the absorption of fluids.

There are other mushrooms that grow rapidly overnight and may disappear by late afternoon on a hot day after rainfall. The primordia form at ground level in lawns in humid spaces under the thatch and after heavy rainfall or in dewy conditions balloon to full size in a few hours, release spores and then collapse. They "mushroom" to full size.

Honey mushroom

Not all mushrooms expand overnight; some grow very slowly. A colony of mushrooms in Malheur National Forest in Eastern Oregon is estimated to be 2,400 years old and spans an estimated 2,200 acres. Most of the fungus is underground and in decaying wood or dying tree roots. More commonly known as the honey mushroom or shoestring fungus, the total mass of it is estimated to weigh at least 7,500 tons and maybe up to 35,000 tons.

Nutrition

Raw brown mushrooms are 92% water, 4% carbohydrates, 2% protein and less than 1% fat. In a 3.5-ounce amount, raw mushrooms provide 22 calories and are a rich source of B vitamins, such as riboflavin, niacin and pantothenic acid, selenium and copper, and a moderate source of phosphorus, zinc and potassium. They have minimal or no vitamin C and sodium content. The vitamin D content of a mushroom depends on postharvest handling, in particular the unintended exposure to sunlight. The U.S. Department of Agriculture provided evidence that UV-exposed mushrooms contain substantial amounts of vitamin D. In a comprehensive safety assessment of producing vitamin D in fresh mushrooms, researchers showed that artificial UV light technologies were equally effective for vitamin D production as in mushrooms exposed to natural sunlight, and that UV light has a long record of safe use for production of vitamin D in food.

Edible mushrooms

Culinary mushrooms are available in a wide diversity of shapes and colors in this photo at a market stand at the San Francisco Ferry Building. Mushrooms are used extensively in cooking, in many cuisines — notably Chinese, Korean, European and Japanese.

Most mushrooms sold in supermarkets have been commercially grown on mushroom farms. The most popular of these — Agaricus bisporus — is considered safe for most people to eat because it is grown in controlled, sterilized environments. Several varieties of A. bisporus are grown commercially, including whites, crimini and portobello. In recent years, increasing affluence in developing countries has led to a considerable growth in interest in mushroom cultivation, which is now seen as a potentially important economic activity for small farmers.

China is a major edible mushroom producer. The country produces about half of all cultivated mushrooms, and around six pounds of mushrooms are consumed per person per year by 1.4 billion people. In 2014, Poland was the world's largest mushroom exporter, reporting an estimated 194,000 tons annually.

Separating edible from poisonous species requires meticulous attention to detail; there is no single trait by which all toxic mushrooms can be identified, nor one by which all edible mushrooms can be identified. People who collect mushrooms for consumption are known as mycophagists, and the act of collecting them for such is known as mushroom hunting, or simply "mushrooming." Even edible mushrooms may produce allergic reactions in susceptible individuals, from a mild asthmatic response to severe anaphylactic shock. Even the cultivated A. bisporus contains small amounts of hydrazines, the most abundant of which is agaritine — a mycotoxin and carcinogen. However, the hydrazines are destroyed by moderate heat when cooking.

A number of species of mushrooms are poisonous; although some resemble certain edible species, consuming them could be fatal. Eating mushrooms gathered in the wild is risky and should only be undertaken by individuals knowledgeable in mushroom identification. Common best practice is for wild mushroom pickers to focus on collecting a small number of visually distinctive, edible mushroom species that cannot be easily confused with poisonous varieties.

Death cap mushrooms

Toxic mushrooms

Many mushroom species produce secondary metabolites that can be toxic, mind-altering, antibiotic, antiviral or bioluminescent. Although there are only a small number of deadly species, several others can cause particularly severe and unpleasant symptoms. Due to the propensity of mushrooms to absorb heavy metals — including those that are radioactive — European mushrooms may, as late as 2008, include toxicity from the 1986 Chernobyl disaster and continue to be studied.

Hallucinogenic mushrooms

Psychoactive mushrooms

Mushrooms with psychoactive properties have long played a role in various native medicine traditions in cultures all around the world. They have been used as a sacrament in rituals aimed at mental and physical healing, and to facilitate visionary states. One such ritual is the velada ceremony. A practitioner of traditional mushroom use is the shaman or curandera — priest-healer.

Psilocybin mushrooms possess psychedelic properties. Commonly known as "magic mushrooms" or "'shrooms," they are openly available in smart shops in many parts of the world or on the black market in those countries that have outlawed their sale. There are over 100 psychoactive mushroom species of genus Psilocybe native to regions all around the world. Psilocybin mushrooms have been reported as facilitating profound and life-changing insights often described as mystical experiences. Recent scientific work has supported these claims, as well as the long-lasting effects of such induced spiritual experiences.

A few species in the genus Amanita contain the psychoactive compound muscimol. The Amanita intoxication is similar to Z-drugs in that it includes CNS depressant and sedative-hypnotic effects, but also dissociation and delirium in high doses.

Medicinal properties

Some mushrooms are used or studied as possible treatments for diseases, particularly their extracts, including polysaccharides, glycoproteins and proteoglycans. In some countries, extracts of polysaccharide-K, schizophyllan, polysaccharide peptide, or lentinan are government-registered adjuvant cancer therapies even though clinical evidence of efficacy in humans has not been confirmed.

Historically in traditional Chinese medicine, mushrooms are believed to have medicinal value, although there is no evidence for such uses.

Mushroom dyeing

Other uses

Mushrooms can be used for dyeing wool and other natural fibers. The chromophores of mushroom dyes are organic compounds and produce strong and vivid colors, and all colors of the spectrum can be achieved with mushroom dyes. Before the invention of synthetic dyes, mushrooms were the source of many textile dyes.

Some fungi, types of polypores loosely called mushrooms, have been used as fire starters — known as tinder fungi.

Mushrooms and other fungi play a role in the development of new biological remediation techniques (e.g., using mycorrhizae to spur plant growth) and filtration technologies (e.g., using fungi to lower bacterial levels in contaminated water).