Day 12: MUSHROOMS

I think it is important that I dedicate a day to another non-vegetable that is used as a vegetable in cuisine...the mushroom. Now, mushrooms get a very bad rap...because they're a fungus after all. Typically we think of fungi in terms of their harmful effects - spoiling that last piece of bread you needed for your sandwich, or overgrowth of yeast of the feminine...you know where. But these are examples of excess that are repulsive by intuition. Heck, we know that excess fats and oils can lead to "gross" obesity, but that doesn't mean that fats are entirely bad (indeed we know they are also necessary to the human body).

A mushroom is actually the structure of fungus that grows above soil - essentially the flower that helps to spread the seeds (spores) of the organism. Not all are edible, but thanks to the trial-and-error of our ancestors we have found those "flowers" that are also nutritious to the human body (doesn't it sound nicer to think of it as a flower?).

The nutrient value of mushrooms differs according to the variety. Shiitake seem to be the most nutritious, followed by white mushrooms, then brown or crimini. And of course you can get into all the fancy expensive mushrooms and truffles (mushroom cousins), but I'm going to keep it simple and review the shiitakes, which are great sauteed with other veggies into a stir-fry, pasta dish, or topping a burger.

HOW GOOD THEY ARE FOR YOU:

+ 1 cup has 7g carbohydrate, NONE of which are sugar, 3g dietary fiber, 0g fat and 3g protein
+ a good source of riboflavin, niacin, vitamin B6, pantothenic acid, phosphorous, potassium, zinc, copper, manganese, and selenium
+ also contain omega-6 fatty acids
+ add great flavor to your dish without adding a lot of calories (43 in 1 cup)

FUN FACTS:

+ some raw mushrooms contain the carcinogens "hydrazines", but when cooked this compound is destroyed
+ never eat mushrooms in the wild, since many poisonous types resemble those that we buy in the grocery store
+ many mushrooms produce psychoactive effects such as halucinations and euphoria, (you may know them as "shrooms") and they have long been used in native spiritual ceremonies (got to thank the trial-and-error of those ancestors again...)
+ in Asia some specific mushrooms have been used for medicinal properties, including inhibition of tumor growth and enhancement of the immune system. Research in western medicine has increased in the past 50 years
+ penicillin is the antibiotic that was discovered occurring naturally in the fungus penicillium to protect itself from bacteria. Several other antibiotics have been discovered in this way

See, mushrooms can be nutritious, delicious, psychadellic, and medicinal...so let's not be prejudiced against them all!