by Andy Gricevich, Newsletter Writer
Note: this article does not provide professional medical advice, and is not intended to substitute for information and recommendations given by a health care provider.
Fungi fascinate. There are more species in their kingdom than in any other. They live almost everywhere, mostly hidden from view as networks of threadlike mycelium underground, within wood and even inside rock. Some can destroy crops and control insects, while many partner with trees and smaller plants to protect and feed them, piping water and nutrients over great distances, keeping soil chemistry in balance. As many as 80 to 90 percent of land plants depend on fungal partnerships in order to live, and we wouldn’t have rich forest and prairie soils without the fungi that break down dead organic matter. They’re incredibly adaptable, evolving so quickly that mycologists—people who study fungi—can’t keep up with the emergence of new species. They can survive nuclear meltdowns and—in the form of lichen, a symbiotic organism that’s a fusion of fungal, bacterial and algae species—the depth of space and the passage through Earth’s atmosphere.
We encounter fungi most often in the form of mushrooms: essentially the fruit of the fungus, made of densely layered mycelium, emerging when the fungus needs to make spores to spread its population to new areas. There’s a resurgence of interest in hunting and identifying mushrooms, and many new growers are appearing on the scene, providing farmers’ markets, restaurants, and grocery stores with delicious and distinctive food. Along with this comes a steadily increasing interest in the health benefits of fungi—a controversial area, to be sure, but one with deep roots in the folk medicine traditions of many cultures, and promising contemporary research. Mushrooms are weird, and that’s becoming a motivation for passion, rather than the fear that has characterized some streams of our culture.
IN THE KITCHEN
For those who love them, mushrooms are especially prized for their standout umami flavors—the rich, deep, meaty, complex tastes that can send a dish over the top. Folks who dislike them typically object to their texture, which they think of as slimy. Here the problem and its solution are simple: most of us have been taught to undercook mushrooms! A well-cooked mushroom has been lightly salted and sautéed in butter or oil until it’s given up all its water and becomes delectably golden-brown and chewy. This takes differing amounts of time, depending on the species and the size of the individual mushroom, but is typically accomplished by either starting with high heat for a few minutes (stirring frequently) and finishing on low, or the reverse. Cooked this way, mushrooms are ready for inclusion in anything from stir-fries and soups to omelets, gravies, and savory pies, or simply eaten on their own. They’re also fabulous grilled, or stewed for a long time with sour cream (mushrooms are very friendly to dairy, and not at all opposed to vegan substitutes).
Nutritionally, it’s important that edible mushrooms are fully cooked. Their cell walls are composed of chitin, a compound that also makes up the shells of many sea creatures. Chitin gives mushrooms the strength to push up through soil, wood, and even rocks. In its raw form, chitin is essentially indigestible, while after cooking it breaks down to some extent, making other nutrients available to our bodies and supplying gut-friendly fiber. Additionally, many mushrooms contain carcinogens or other toxic compounds that are deactivated by heat.
While dehydration doesn’t quite do the trick on its own, using dried mushrooms in dishes can be another good way to get them into a meal. Most often, they’re reconstituted by soaking in warm or hot water; the mushrooms themselves are then either cooked or discarded, and the soaking liquid is used for soups, stews, or sauces. A recent craze in mushroom cuisine has been to grind dried mushrooms to a powder in a blender or coffee grinder. Processed this way, they can make an incredible seasoning for just about anything, or a fantastic thickener for soups.
At your Co-op, you’re usually able to find some of the most frequently cultivated fresh culinary mushroom species, typically grown on compressed sawdust (other growing media most often include logs and wood chips). Gourmet’s Delight supplies the familiar Agaricus bisporus, or button mushroom, in its three forms: the common white mushroom, fully mature portobello, and the brown strain of the same species known as cremini. Vitruvian Farms grows wonderful oyster, shiitake, and lion’s mane mushrooms.
Oysters (of which there are many species) feature a unique aroma and a mild flavor. They’re best on their own, in dishes in which other flavors don’t overpower them, or as a means to “stretch” smaller quantities of more intense, rare, or expensive mushroom species. As with many mushrooms, the texture will be drier and firmer with smaller individual caps. Shiitake, perhaps the most frequently consumed gourmet mushroom worldwide, is an exception. Even large shiitake mushrooms tend to be firm and meaty in texture, cooking up beautifully in little time, and perfect simply simmered for a few minutes in a miso broth or other soup stock. Their distinctive flavor and much-touted medicinal benefits have made them a staple of many Asian cuisines for a very long time, and they’re now readily available in the United States. If their undersides are exposed to sunlight for a day, they’ve also been found to produce large quantities of vitamin D.
Lion’s mane is a fabulous mushroom whose widespread cultivation is fairly recent. Its fascinating form—like a cluster of tiny white icicles or teeth—is surpassed by its flavor, highly reminiscent of crab or lobster. As with many mushrooms, the flavor is more potent in its wild form, but definitely present in lion’s mane grown indoors. It benefits from lower-heat cooking, allowing the delicate teeth to brown gradually, and makes for a great dish with seafood, or wherever seafood might be employed.
In a good year, you might also find fabulous wild mushrooms on the shelf, like unparalleled morels and chanterelles. At the farmers’ market, you may find chicken of the woods in the summer and hen of the woods in the fall, and can purchase other cultivated varieties from growers like Fungi Farmers and MicroMyco. In stores, countertop grow kits are now readily available as well, most frequently producing oyster and lion’s mane varieties. The kits contain a block of growing medium (usually sawdust or grain) inoculated with fungal mycelium, and, after being soaked overnight and misted daily, can produce multiple crops of mushrooms in a home kitchen.
There’s also a growing industry of fungus-based meat substitutes, whose first appearance on the market came from the Quorn company. Quorn employs a technique in which the mycelium of Fusarium venenatum is fermented to produce a high-protein, high-fiber base for food products. While there’s some concern about infrequent allergic reactions to the mycelium, mycoproteins are being manufactured by an increasing number of companies seeking sustainable and nutritious alternatives to meat, soy, and wheat. In any case, fungi certainly deserve a place in our diets, and they’re more accessible than ever to those who aren’t ready to head out into the woods to forage them for themselves.
MYCOMEDICINE
Edible fungi are undeniably nutritious. Low in calories, mushrooms provide a range of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and fiber, and—as with plant foods—that makes them beneficial “food as primary medicine.” Going beyond simply treating mushrooms as a food, there’s been an explosion of interest in the health-supportive potential of fungi in the form of supplements and beverages. Mushrooms have a very long tradition of medicinal use in many cultures, and modern researchers are additionally intrigued by the fact that the fungal and animal kingdoms share closer evolutionary roots than either has in common with plants, and that fungi, dealing with stresses at least somewhat similar to those we face, may generate compounds that protect us in parallel ways.
Many scientists, including some trained mycologists, claim that the entire idea of mycomedicinals is nothing but irresponsible snake oil. Others continue to look into the possible effects of compounds found in fungi on a variety of bodily systems and health issues, and luminaries like Paul Stamets of Fungi Perfecti unabashedly and broadly tout the medicinal benefits of fungi. Research largely focuses on the wide variety of polysaccharides, or complex carbohydrate molecules, found in the cell walls of mushrooms, particularly those called beta-glucans. Scientists study these compounds for effects ranging from immune support and anticancer activity to mood regulation and enhanced brain activity, and supplement companies market their fungal products accordingly.
Mycomedicinals appear on the shelf in three main forms: as capsules, powders, and tinctures. It’s important to remember that the supplement industry is largely unregulated, so research is important when choosing a fungal product for health support. Tinctures are typically made by steeping mushrooms in high-proof alcohol, cooking the same mushroom species in hot water, then combining the two resulting liquids at a ratio that keeps it shelf-stable. Each step extracts different compounds from the mushroom. Making powders and capsules can employ either or both processes (in which case the water is removed and the alcohol cooked off), and the resulting product will be listed as “extract” on the label. Some powders merely dehydrate and grind mushrooms, resulting in a product that, while it may offer nutrients, has not been processed to make beta-glucans and other compounds accessible.
There’s debate among mycomedicinal producers over which form of a fungus is used to make a given product. Most mycomedicinals use a base of rice bran or other grain, inoculated with fungal mycelium and cultivated indoors; this substrate is then put through one of the processes outlined above. This method allows for a high degree of quality control. It’s also much more efficient and economical than inducing the mycelium to produce fruiting bodies in the form of actual mushrooms.
Critics like Tero Isokauppila, CEO of the mycomedicinal company Four Sigmatic, cite research indicating that actual mushrooms contain much higher concentrations of beneficial compounds than does the mycelium alone. They also point out that it’s impossible to separate threads of mycelium (which are only one cell-width in diameter) from the growing medium, resulting in a product that’s as much as 50 percent grain. Furthermore, Isokauppila compares fungi grown on grain to cattle fed corn and soy, rather than grass, significantly changing their nutritional profile; Four Sigmatic uses only mushroom fruiting bodies grown on wood in its coffees and beverage powders.
On the other hand, the company has been sued by the state of California for not including a lead warning on its labels; though the amounts found in their products are very low, it’s a fact that fungi are exceptional at uptaking whatever’s found in their environments, and that the indoor growing method favored by companies like Fungi Perfecti allows producers to ensure a clean product (Four Sigmatic now includes a lead warning, and insists that it has its mushrooms lab-tested). Again, any supplement requires investigation to ensure that we’re purchasing a high-quality product.
SOME FAVORED SPECIES
There’s an array of fungi used most frequently in mycomedinals, each with its own claimed benefits. Reishi has been one of the most revered mushrooms in Asia for many centuries, and is studied for immune-supportive effects as an antimicrobial, an anti-tumor, and an antioxidant, as well as a capacity to produce a calm energy, among other virtues. Chaga—long-used in Russia and now extraordinarily popular in the U.S.—is a fungus that grows mostly on birches, and is touted as a potent anti-cancer medicine, especially due to a compound called betulin, which it extracts from the bark of its host trees and renders bioavailable to us (betulin is also found the birch polypore mushroom, abundant in our region, where chaga occurs farther north).
Maitake, or Hen of the Woods, has also been investigated for anti-cancer properties, and has been shown to regulate blood sugar. Turkey tail gets special attention for anti-tumor and immune-enhancing activity. Studies indicate that lion’s mane (and its close relatives) may stimulate the regrowth of neurons, with potential for the treatment of Alzheimer’s, senility, and brain trauma. Cordyceps, a fungus that parasitizes insects, is favored particularly by athletes for its ability to increase respiration and blood flow.
MUSHROOMING POSSIBILITIES
In addition to food and supplemental medicine, there’s a fascinating and varied movement taking place to work with fungi in various ways. Psychoactive mushrooms are on their way to legitimization as a tool in treating an array of psychological challenges. Many mushroom cultivators are excited about the possibilities of mycoremediation, using fungi to clean up polluted environments, uptaking heavy metals and even breaking down toxic chemicals into harmless states. It’s an exciting time for interaction with the fungal kingdom in all its fascinating, crucial, and often delectable glory.