Mushrooms — A look at That Magic Factor
Here are a few details about Mushrooms, the magic ingredient:
Mushrooms are often classified as a vegetable or a herb, but they’re actually fungi.
While you can find over 14,000 mushrooms, no more than 3,000 are edible, about 700 have known medicinal properties, and fewer than one percent are recognized as poisonous.
Those who collect mushrooms for consumption are called mycophagists, and the act of collecting them for such is recognized as mushroom hunting or simply just “mushrooming” ;.
Only specimens that are freshly picked or properly preserved must be consumed and not too old. Once an edible mushroom loses its freshness wonka bar, bacterial colonies will form and stomach upsets or worse symptoms can be anticipated if such specimens are ingested.
The most commonly consumed mushroom in the world is Agaricus bisporus or the white button mushroom. It has two other styles Crimini or brown mushrooms with an even more earthy flavor and firmer texture, and Portabella mushrooms with a large umbrella-shaped cap and meaty flavor.
The Egyptians considered mushrooms as a delicacy, and the Greeks believed that mushrooms provided strength for warriors in battle. The Romans regarded mushrooms as a gift from God and served them only on festive occasions, as the Chinese treasured them as a health food.
Mushrooms contain about 80 to 90 % water and are suprisingly low in calories (only 100 calories/oz). They have almost no sodium and fat and 8 to 10 % of the dry weight is fiber.
No more than 45% of mushrooms produced are consumed in the fresh form. The rest of the 55% is processed with 5% in the dehydrated form and 50% in the canned mushrooms form.
This shelf life of mushrooms in the fresh form is very short. Hence mushrooms are traded in the world market mostly in the processed form.
Some mushrooms produce compounds that fight cancer! This is discovered when scientists in Japan found that the community had unusually low cancer rates.
Mushrooms can be utilized for dyeing wool and other natural fibers. The chromophores of mushrooms are organic compounds and produce strong and vivid colors, and all colors of the spectrum can be performed with mushroom dyes.
Netherlands is the biggest exporter of canned button mushrooms with a market share of approximately 38.5%. China is second with almost 30% of world trade. France is close third with 13.5% of the world exports.
As far as the import market goes, the absolute most significant buyer of canned white button mushroom is Germany. It alone accounts for almost 40% of the world imports.
Along with the aforementioned facts, mushrooms assists in immune function, they’re saturated in vegetable proteins and also promotes good health and vitality.
