Mushroom Tidbits

 

  

Amanita can be quite striking.

 

 

• The mycological world is buzzing about a simple, portable test developed by ARS scientists and their colleagues that was shown to detect the presence of as little as 10 parts per billion of amanitin in about 10 minutes from a small sample of mushroom or in the urine of someone, including a dog, who has eaten an amanitin containing mushroom. Although it may be some time before the test is approved for use on patients, this is certainly a step in the right direction.

• Imagine mushroom waste being turned into sunscreen or perhaps even become a replacement for plastic wrap!  There really is something new fruiting under the sun!

• Have you taken advantage of the huge drop in Italian white truffle prices?  Thanks to abundant rains, the bumper crop reduced prices for white truffles by as much as one-half.  Even though the price is reported to be the lowest since tracking started, $1,000/pound in Italy is perhaps beyond the reach of many of us.  And, do keep in mind that it's a rather fragile product where decay can occur in as little as one week.

• It's reported that Prince Phillip, the Duke of Edinburgh, is successfully growing black truffles (Tuber melanosporum) for culinary use on the Queen’s estate at Sandringham, a Buckingham Palace source confirms to  to Us Weekly.  These black truffles typically sell for about $90 an ounce in Great Britian.

• Think you know a matsutaki?  Turns out that are "three matsutake species (which) occur in North America ... T. magnivelare from the eastern USA and Canada, T. murrillianum from the western USA and Canada, and T. mesoamericanum from Mexico ... The existence of the three North American species is further supported by the results of evolutionary divergence analysis, geographical distributions, and morphological characters" writes Steven A. Trudell in an abstract published in the journal Mycologia.

• 44,488 species of fungi in North America (Canada, U.S. and Mexico) and still counting!  Kind of blows you away.  20,000 of them are mushrooms, and the remaining are typically not visible to the naked eye, classified as mircofungi according to Andrew Millar who is associated with the Illinois Natural History Survey and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.  He led the team that compiled the data by searching more than 2.2 million records using the Mycology Collections Portal, which includes data from numerous universities, botanical gardens and other institutions.  The final list is published in the journal Mycologia, which is a peer-reviewed scientific journal that publishes papers on all aspects of the fungi

• The Daily Meal reported in February, 2018 that “The Viagra of the Himalayas” is now being served up in a soup at the ultra-exclusive Talon Club in The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas. Yes, at only $688 for an order of the caterpillar fungus soup you too can test out its legendary properties. No, there are no guarantees that the soup lives up to its reputation as an aphrodisiac or that it offers anti-aging properties or can be used to treat cancer. Still, if you’re quite curious, it might be worth $688 to try this menu selection which combines ¼ ounce of Cordyceps fungus hand sourced in the Himalayas, black-skinned chicken breast, longan berry and red date in a tea-like broth.

• Searching for a better way to die?   Look no further.  The February 23, 2018 edition of The Week reports that celebrated California chef Alice Waters desires to be in a burial pajama suit seeded with mushrooms that helps your body decompose more quickly.  Interesting alternative to the conventional burial request!

• Don't spend your money on anti-aging formulas and potions; eat mushrooms.  In a Newsweek November 9, 2017 article, authored by Kastalia Medrano, the claim is made that "New research reveals that mushrooms are 'without a doubt' the highest known single source of the antioxidants ergothioneine and glutathione, which are both associated with anti-aging properties."  More good news:  the antioxidants in the mushrooms appear to be heat-stable and thus unaffected when prepared.  As the headline observes, mushrooms may be the best food to fight aging.

• It doesn't sound as if there will be any white truffles at bargain prices this year.  According to an article in Bloomberg, supplies in some parts of Italy could be reduced by 90% as a result of a hot summer and a dry fall.  “Prices have doubled,” says Vittorio Giordano, vice president of Urbani Truffles, a major importer, according to the October 30, 2017 online edition.  In fact, white truffles currently may be over $5,000/kilo.

• Can one manage weight by consuming mushrooms?  The October 20, 2017 edition of the online Daily Mail writes that "Researchers claim mushrooms, perhaps on toast or in an omelette, stave off hunger pangs and lead to a greater feeling of fullness," according to a study, carried out by the University of Minnesota and funded by the Mushroom Council.  A cautionary note regarding this study is noted in PubMedHealth (US National Library of Medicine) which comments that "Though of interest, this study doesn't provide strong evidence that you should eat mushrooms if you want to lose weight" and the "study has a number of limitations."

• Can mushrooms stave off dementia?  So the data would show, according to the January 25, 2017 edition of the online New York Post in which Professor Vikineswary Sabaratnam of Malaya University in Kuala Lumpur was referenced.  Professor Sabaratnam concluded that "Regular consumption of the mushrooms may reduce or delay development of age-related neurodegeneration."  A study of 11 types of fungi had found they boosted the brain’s gray matter by raising the production of a chemical called nerve growth factor, or NGF, according to the study, which appeared in the January edition of the Journal of Medicinal Food.  The findings suggest that mushrooms “may fulfill a preventive function against the development of Alzheimer’s disease.” 

• Could a mushroom save the honeybee?  That's the question Steve Sheppard (Head of the Department of Entomology at Washington State University) and Paul Stamets (Owner of the medicinal mushroom company Fungi Perfecti) are trying to answer.  Read about their quest and Sheppard's optimism on National Public Radio's website.

• The Jefferson Monthly, the members' magazine of Jefferson Public Radio, recently included an article by Rae Ellen Bichell which had originally been published on NPR.org on October 23, 2013.  Tucked into the piece was a discussion entitled "A Morel Quandary" which pointed out the risks that may be involved with consuming false morels (Gyromitra esculenta).  Not swayed by her comments?  Then be sure to check out Professor Tom Volk's (University of Wisconsin-LaCrosse) cautionary notes on Gyromitra esculenta.  If you're adventurous and currently consume false morels, we'd suggest considering Bichell and Volk concerns carefully before cooking up a batch of false morels this spring.  

• The January 2015 newsletter of the Puget Sound Mycological Society features an article on the mighty Birch Polypore which contains the antibiotic Piptamine.  The author comments that "You can also make woodland plasters from the stuff—I’ve treated my own jagged bow-saw cuts on fingers with the stuff, and very effectively. Find one of them that has a nice clean white underside. This thin (under 1 mm approx.) bottom layer is of a felt-like texture, and by slicing a rectangular section of this off, you can wrap it around a finger for example (the inner layer should be touching the wound, not the potentially dirty outer layer) and tie with a little grass. It will quickly dry hard and adhere to itself quite effectively, making it stay in place without binding, retarding minor bleeding and aiding in healing as well as protecting the wound from dirt and infection if like me, you’re sometimes daft enough not to take a first aid kit with you into the woods."  The author concludes by advising:  " Obviously clean the wound as soon as you are able."

• Perhaps it's another case of buyer beware.  In a September, 2014 abstract (Dentinger BTM, Suz LM.,  2014, What’s for dinner? Undescribed species of porcini in a commercial packet. PeerJ 2:e570) the authors "used DNA-sequencing to identify three species of mushroom contained within a commercial packet of dried Chinese porcini purchased in London. Surprisingly, all three have never been formally described by science and required new scientific names. This demonstrates the ubiquity of unknown fungal diversity even in widely traded commercial food products from one of the most charismatic and least overlooked groups of mushrooms."  Does this make you wonder what was really in the last package of dehydrated mushrooms that you purchased?

• What's the answer to that age old question:  Why do Candy Cane mushrooms smell like maple syrup?  This "puzzled Darvin DeShazer so much that he asked, William Wood, a Humboldt State University researcher, about it. He asked the question in 1985. The two worked on it, off and on, for the next twenty-seven years" before coming up with the definitive answer.  Frankly, "the mystery turned out to be more complicated than anyone expected. First of all, the mushrooms don't give off the odor of maple syrup when fresh. Only when they dry do they start smelling sweet. The chemists determined that the amino acids in the drying mushroom combine to form quabalactone III, a chemical that is one of the many esters...The syrup smell comes when quabalactone III combines with water to form sotolon. You eat sotolon all the time, if you eat fake maple syrup. It's one of the chemicals made by food companies and added to sugar solutions to make the fake maple syrup scorned by New Englanders. Essentially, the mushrooms are making unnatural maple syrup through natural processes."  Read more at the website i09.  

• We're always looking for a more perfect way to store mushrooms, and Cook's Illustrated may have come up with a very interesting idea.  In their May & June 2015 issue they have printed a suggestion contributed by Theresa Hrach of PA which suggests placing "mushrooms in an empty strawberry container.  Its vents allow spoilage-hastening ethylene gas to disperse."

• Could you turn down offers of $1 million dollars for your truffle?  That's just what Sabatino Truffles of Umbria, Italy did in December of 2014.  Rather than accept a million dollars for their record-setting 4.16-pound white truffle, they commissioned Sotheby's to auction it with the $61,250 accepted bid donated to the Citymeals-on-Wheels and the Children's Glaucoma Foundation.  The winning bidder is rumored to be Taiwanese gourmand and to have placed his bid by phone.  The DailyMail.com claims that "the fungus is large enough to feed a party for 300-400 truffle dinners."
  
  The exceptional truffle is said to have been slightly smaller than a football whereas the average white truffle is closer to the size of a walnut.  Certainly a rarity in size, it should be noted that white truffles can only be found in select areas of Italy during three months of the year.  This particular specimen was only about 4" under the surface of the ground, although white truffles can sometimes be 10-15" below ground.

• In the fall of 2014, diverse news sources, including www.Telegraph.co.uk and USA Today are reporting that Germany’s forests may be plagued by radioactive boars, thanks to the animal’s habit of scarfing down mushrooms and truffles that could be storing radiation from the Chernobyl nuclear disaster of nearly 30 year ago.  Saxony boar hunters are currently required to test the boar carcasses for radiation, and alarmingly “in a single year, 297 out of 752 boars tested … have exhibited high levels of radiation that make the meat unfit for human consumption.  Sadly, experts believe that the radioactive boars could be roaming Germany for up to 50 more years.  Similarly, it is believed that many mushrooms from the areas affected may also be unfit for human consumption.

• In April of 2014, the English online version of The Asachi Simbun published a brief article about a pair of small matsutake (with a combined weight of less than 5 ounces) that sold at auction within a second after the event opened with a winning bid of $1,170 at the famous Tsukji wholesale market in Tokyo.  Apparently there are times when temperature and humidity coincide with fall conditions and early matsutake (samatus) will fruit.  These rare mushrooms are extremely prized as evidenced by the selling price.

• There's been some chatter over the last year or so about squirrels and their ability to dine on mushrooms containing the deadly amanita-toxins, seemingly without adverse affects.  What's up with squirrels?  According to a posting on Mushroom the Journal's website, Dr. John Rippon, a widely recognized expert on fungal diseases, reports that squirrels have an interesting adaptation that allows them to eat these mushrooms without suffering negative consequences.  Dr. Rippon is quoted as saying that there "are three important chemicals in the amanitas. Two will knock you right off, but are destroyed in cooking. The third one is the interesting one: it consists of the second amanitin, bound tightly to a glycoprotein molecule. When (humans) digest the mushroom, the enzymes in our gut break the bond between the toxin and the glycoprotein, leaving the toxin free to enter our bloodstream, while the glycoprotein is excreted. What the squirrels have done is line their gut with a toxin-compatible glycoprotein, so that as soon as it gets split from its original glycoprotein molecule, it gets rebound to the squirrel glycoprotein, and excreted along with it."  We never to cease to be amazed at how nature has adapted to deal with life as it presents itself.

• May 23, 2014 is a day that about 700,000 citizens in Portland, Oregon may long remember:  they were instructed to boil their tap water before consuming it due the detection of a dangerous form of E. coli bacteria in the regional water supply.  An article by James Trimarco of Yes Magazine online details research previously done by Paul Stamets, founder and owner at Fungi Perfecti, that considers "an out-of-the-box solution: running water through filters that contain fungi specially selected for their antibiotic abilities."  In his study, Mycologist Paul Stamets found that "the best-performing species turned out to be the species from the genus Stropharia, commonly known as the wine cap mushroom. The wine caps—which are not only edible but considered a delicacy—consistently removed more than 20 percent of E. Coli that flowed around it."

• At the end of May 2014, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) released a “new inventions” report which announced the creation of a mushroom sports drink which enhances both the performance of an athlete as well as the recovery of the individual from the exertion of an event.  The official document stated that they had "succeeded in finding a way to cultivate mushroom fungus and made a functional drink ... (which) is very effective in enhancing physical ability of sportspersons and recovering from their fatigues.”  The Guardian online notes that the KCNA report did not provide details as to how the beverage works in the body, when it will available to the general public, or how it tastes.

• Lisa Gates intrigued readers of the 5-22-14 “The Daily Beast” with her headline that “Mushrooms are Magic for Women Trying to Lose Weight.”  She pointed out that they “may provide the balance required to level-out blood sugar levels and keep the body at a healthy weight, all while providing clean fuel for endurance so the body doesn’t crash and burn” for women.  Gates added that “men, you need not be deterred—mushrooms can still aid in your health. They have long since been touted as medicinal fungi, boasting the ability to strengthen the immune system and lower cholesterol. Portobellos are also chock-full of antioxidants, and they’re full of fiber (which) keeps you full for longer periods of time.  They also have potassium for hydration and iron for healthy circulation.”

• Many of us tend to think that mushrooms are passive seed spreaders, releasing their spores and allowing the air currents to distribute them.  But, how do some mushrooms seem to disperse their spores even when there doesn't seem to be any breeze?  The answer may be simple:  they cool the air around them by releasing water vapor, creating convection currents strong enough to lift the spores into the air and even move them away from the mushroom, reports UCLA researcher Marcus Roper.  Mushrooms can create their own weather!    According to Anne Pringle, a mycologist at Harvard University, this work by Roper and his colleague, Emilie Dressaire, represents another example of how "fungi are actively manipulating their environment...Even though we perceive them to be passive, they are quite active in moving themselves around."

• Vitamin D enriched mushrooms!  In a 2012 Huffington Post article, Paul Stamets, founder of Fungi Perfecti, wrote about the ease of increasing the vitamin D in mushrooms simply by exposing them to sunlight.  It doesn't seem to matter if they are store bought or wild, fresh or dehydrated.  Simply expose them to sunlight for a couple of hours and the high vitamin D levels will last for more than a year.  Stamets claims that "eating mushrooms packed with vitamin D2 confers many other health benefits. Mushrooms have many helpful nutrients, including beta glucans for immune enhancement, ergothioneines for antioxidative potentiation, nerve growth stimulators for helping brain function, and antimicrobial compounds for limiting viruses."  

• What do you get when you combine agricultural waste with fungal mycelium?  Mushroom materials, and the many products of Ecovacative which are natural, renewable and biodegradable...they are grown products, not manufactured.  Interestingly, the mushroom materials may end up as surfboard blanks, fins and handplanes as well as more ordinary products such as packaging and insultation.  

• Fungi Fighting Pollutants - now that's a headline that we like to read in the paper.  Several newspapers have been bringing attention to the cleanup of Sequoia Creek in Corvallis, Oregon where volunteers with the Ocean Blue Project, an ecological restoration nonprofit, have been blending mushroom spawn with coffee grounds and straw, placing the resulting mixture in burlap bags, and then setting the containers so that water entering storm drains is filtered through them.  How ingenious!  The approach is seeking to take advantage of the mycelium's natural ability to break down toxins (such as oil and pesticides) and to metabolize harmful bacteria (such as E. coli).  More information on this project as well as future possibilities, which may include assisting in the cleanup of the Willamette River, can be found at www.OceanBlueProjects.org.  

• Russula subnigricans, one of the blushing russulas which, when tissues are broken, will slowly bruise red, is getting a lot of attention these days, and not all of it has been good.  It seems that this mushroom, which was first reported in Japan in 1955, has now been identified as being toxic.  In addition to Japan, it's been located in China and is thought to also be growing in various parts of the USA.  According to the Cornell Mushroom Blog, it's quite toxic, causing a quarter of the more than 800 mushroom poisonings in the past 18 years in Southern China, of which half the people who ate it died.  Symptoms of poisoning seem to appear 30 minutes to 2 hours after ingestion, and death may occur 12 to 24 hours later.  There are no specific antidotes to the effects of Russula subnigricans which causes muscle tissue to breakdown, Rhabdomyolysis.

• It's that age old question:  are there really truffles in truffle oil?  Thanks to the January/February 2013 Cook's Illustrated we now may have an answer.  The magazine notes that "First, it helps to know that truffle oil isn't typically made by steeping the fungus in oil...instead (it) is made by adding flavor molecules to it.  Some manufacturers harvest these compounds from fresh truffles, but many others choose cheaper organic sources to extract some of the same molecules to add to oil.  Still other manufacturers create synthetic versions of flavors, most often 2,4-dithiapentane, the dominant flavor compound present in real truffles."  The article points out that some bottles may be labeled as natural and reminds the reader that the USDA "regulates the term natural only when applied to cuts of meat and poultry, rendering the term meaningless on most other foods."  Cook's Illustrated concludes that "most of the oils were disappointing, with a flat, one-dimentional flavor when compared with that of real truffles."  Be sure to check out the full article, and you'll discover which two brands "had the best-if somewhat mild-flavor."

• April 2013's National Geographic may have revealed the secret to creating your own Stradivarius:  applying two arboreal fungi-Physisporinus vitreus and Xylaria longipes-to an instrument may enable it to deliver the sounds of a Stradivarius.  Amazing!  The article by Johnna Rizzo states, "Violins work like this:  Bowed strings vibrate the bridge beneath them; the bridge moving against the violin's body bounces sound.  Stradivarius violins from the 1700s are said to move the notes around best.  According to tree pathologist Francis Schwarze, applying...the fungi...to a lesser violin can help it perform on a par with the famed maker's instruments.  The fungi work by thinning cell walls in Norway spruce-the only wood used to make a violin's top plates-and maple so that sound can move more freely.  Less weight means louder and more resonant tones.  It's not all about volume, though.  The fungi also double the dampening function of the wood, taking away too-high, irritating sounds.  Schwarze says fungi can improve other instruments as well, including hammer dulcimers and guitars."    

• Mushrooms present blood-sugar swings reports First for Women Magazine in their January 2013 issues.  The article explains that "Long-chain sugar molecules in these tasty bites heal and energize pancreatic cells.  The result:  optimized insulin output and up to a 22% reduction in fatigue-triggering blood-sugar fluxes...To get the benefits, consume 1/2 cup of mushrooms (raw or cooked) per day" they recommend.  The research was carried out at the Georgetown University Medical Center in Washington, DC.    

• Time Magazine's August 27, 2012 article "IPAD, M.D." reports:  "Smart phones, too, are changing medicine.  Dr. John Halamka, a Harvard professor and the chief information officer for Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, is a toxicologist specializing in mushroom poisoning.  About 300 times year, he is called to consult on cases.  'Wherever I am in the world at any time of day, I will be able to identify the species and, through a remote consultation purely via iPhone, be able to come up with a treatment plan for the patient,' he says."

• Cook's Illustrated bravely took on the Porcini versus Shiitake debate in their July/August 2012 magazine.  Their conclusion:  "The soup made with shiitakes was deemed meatier, with less pronounced mushroomy flavor, than its porcini counterpart - a plus for a majority of our tasters.  The shiitake sauce, on the other hand, lost out to the porcini version for its relatively mild mushroom flavor.  In the future, we'll consider substituting shiitakes for porcini mushrooms in dishes in which we value meaty, umami-boosting qualities, and we'll save pricier dried porcini for times when we really want to feature their distinctive mushroom taste."

• The website Mycologia has a fascinating article on the variations in the morels we find here in the USA - differences in color, shape, ridge pattern and pit.  After years of gathering collections from all parts of the country, much research along with the use of DNA analysis, it was concluded that there are many more morel species than thought and that they are different from morels in Europe and Asia.  Intrigued by this statement?  Consult Mycologia ["Taxonomic revision of true morels (Morchella) in Canada and the United States"] for details.

• What's this we've been hearing about the button mushrooms that you commonly find in grocery stores being toxic?  The Puget Sound Mycological Society presents this information on their website:  "The familiar button mushroom on store shelves contains a volatile hydrazine that is a known carcinogen.  Although these mushrooms are delicious raw, once you've learned that they contain this hydrazine and that it is volatile and leaves the mushroom upon cooking you know to avoid them raw."

• Now, we've never seen our 10 year old, 20 pound cat, Susie Q, show any interest in mushrooms that we've brought in to the house, but we've heard tell that other felines seem to have an attraction to fungi.  Just leave it to The Salt, NPR's food blog, to seek out the truth about cats eating mushrooms.  In an interview with Gary Beauchamp, director of the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia, he asserts that cats "hunt for protein, not fungi" and that they be responding to "glutamate, an amino acid that gives mushrooms their rich, savory flavor."  The blog concludes with this word of caution from veterinarians:  "neither dogs nor cats should eat mushrooms, and the North American Mycological Association warns that both dogs and cats are attracted by the odor of wild mushrooms, and can be poisoned as a result."

• An older article in Science Daily, May 2007, revealed that researchers at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine have found evidence that fungi possess a previously undiscovered talent:  they can use radioactivity as an energy source for making food and spurring their growth.

• True morels split off from other fungal species 129 million years ago, according to a March 2011 article in Science Daily.  It was the beginning of the Cretaceous Period, when mammals were primitive little things, and dinosaurs still ruled the world.  Since then, morels have evolved into 177 related species, although in many ways, the reserachers stated, they have "remained remarkabley static."  The study, published in the professional journal Fungal Genetics and Biology was conducted by scientists from OSU, the USDA, Eastern Illinois University and private industry.

• A giant fungus (F. ellipsoidea) discovered in Hainan Province, China, in 2010 may be largest ever documented, with a fruiting body of  10 meters (about 33 feet)  and weighing about half a ton, according to the BBC News.

• According to an article in a 2008 edition of Helsigin Sanomat, the wild mushrooms tested in various parts of Finland still exhibit elevated levels of the radioactive caesium-137 that originated from the Chernobyl accident in 1986 while the caesium content of berries and animals has already become almost zero.  Researcher Eila Kostiainen from the Nuclear Safety Authority commented that "the mushrooms can be eaten in moderation, even when the contents are high, exceeding the highest permissible level recommended for commercial mushrooms."  The easiest way to reduce the caesium content is to pre-process the mushrooms with water.  "Caesium is water soluble and can be disposed of with water.  The most important thing is to soak or boil the fresh, dried, or salted mushrooms in abundant water and to throw away the water after the process."  The drying of mushrooms alone does not reduce the level of radioactive caesium. 

• Why cook mushrooms? Brian Luther recently wrote that "With the bulk of fungal cell tissue being made of chitin, humans do not possess the digestive enzymes necessary to break the material down... This means that raw fungal cells pass through our digestive systems as roughage, just like any other uncooked vegetable matter.  So it makes sense that cooking edible fungi prior to eating would be beneficial for more than one reason.  (1) Cooking breaks open the fungal cells that are protected by a cell wall shield of chitin, more fully releasing, in mass, the fungal protoplasm or cell contents for our digestive systems to utilize, thereby getting more nutritional benefit from the food.  (2) There is a significant increase in culinary or gastronomic appeal because after cooking an edible mushroom it is much more flavorful, compared to eating a raw or uncooked specimens.  Compare, for example, the flavor slices of raw Agaricus bisporus to slices of the same mushroom sauteed.  There is no comparison in flavor.  The cooked mushroom's are mush tastier and more appealing, even before adding butter, fresh garlic, olive oil, or herbs.  It is always advisable to cook mushrooms...not only for the two reasons given above, but for a third reason - cooking the mushrooms will kill any parasites (nematodes or pathogenic bacteria) that might be hiding there as well."

• More good news about mushrooms.  A 2008 article by Mediatrix P. Cristobal at balita.ph talks about Volvariella volvacea, a mushroom indigenous to Manila that is a component in a woven bandage catering to the local medical industry.  This mushroom is rich in chitin/chitosan which promotes the healing of wounds.  When bandages containing chitosan were used on patients' wounds, observers reported inhibition of microbial growth and re-epithelialization as early as day 1.  In addition, the scientists also observed good oxygen permeability.  The bandages were rated on a par with commercially available wound dressings treated with an antibiotic.  They are also cheaper, being composed of about 50 percent agro-industrial wastes and 50 percent mushroom mycelium. 

• A recent speaker at PSMS in Seattle, Washington, presented information on her field work on Fusarium semitectum and its evolutionary relationship with chili peppers.  Apparently, the spicy burn that hot pepper lovers enjoy is the result of an evolutionary arms race between the pepper plants and infecting fungi.  After working in Bolivia, a region where chili peppers originated, Noelle Machnicki found evidence that the capsaicinoids, chemical compounds that give peppers their zing, inhibit growth of Fusasium, and may also inhibit growth of a wide range of other microorganisms.

• A 2008 publishing at Gadling.com reported on Ryannair flight from Hungary to Ireland in which a bag of frozen fungi in an overhead locker began to thaw and drip onto a passenger, triggering an allergic reaction.  The jet had to be diverted to an airport in Germany after the passenger started choking.

• In spite of the popular reference to The Truffle, there are many different kinds of truffles.  In fact, there are over 60 species of truffles in England alone, but only a few are edible and these are rarely found.

• Why do the British drink tea?  According to John E. Peterson of the Emporia Gazette, the British have long been drinkers of tea rather than coffee, thanks to fungi.  The big island just east of India used to be Ceylon.  It was a British possession.  It is Sri Lanka today and independent.  Back in the British days, it was a huge producer of coffee for British use until a fungal disease hit the coffee and literally wiped out the possibility of coffee growing there.  Tea would grow on Ceylon so it became a huge tea producing area and the British became tea drinkers.

• According to Indiatimes.com, the morel mushrooms could soon relieve us from pain and protect us against tumors.  Scientists from Amala Cancer Research Centre, Thruissur, have found significant  anti-inflammatory and anti-tumor qualities in the mushroom extract- especially when administered to mice suffering from cancer - compared to the standard reference drug Diclofenac.  The extract, scientists say, could be put to therapeutic use in chemotherapy.  The team of scientists from Amala reported their finds in a 2007 issue of the Indian journal "Current Science".

• In the September/October edition of "The Mycophile", Arturo Estrada Torres wrote that  rodents are critical in helping mushrooms grow/spawn.   After almost a year of work, he found that almost all of the mushroom species that they collected in their study sites showed at least some evidence of rodent bites.  Often, their tiny teeth marks were clearly visible.  They trapped ten different rodent species, most of which had some mushroom spores or other fungal material in their feces, clearly showing that rates and mice eat mushrooms as part of their diet.  What are the implications?  Rodents play an important role in the reproduction of mushrooms, especially those who reproductive structures are under the ground.  Even more important, these animals also eat mushrooms that do not grow underground, providing another means of spore dispersion, one even more powerful than the wind, and one that assures they'll easily find a host to grow on.  In this way, rodents are an important element in the forest, connected to all the others and forming a tripartite association that pays an important role in the functioning of our ecosystems.

We never cease to be humbled by the variety of mushrooms.

• In an article by Katy McLaughlin in "The Wall Street Journal", she states that the reason that people either enjoy the taste of truffles or detest them depends on their sensitivity to a chemical component called androstenone.  25% of the population have no reaction at all to this chemical, which contributes to the fungus' signature musky aroma - the aroma that makes female pigs go into the mating stance.  Another 40% are keenly sensitive to it.  They say it smells like rotten wood or sweat.  That leaves 35% of the population that likes the smell - and makes them willing to pay to have it added to their food.  Research is still out as to whether perception of the compound is due to difference in individuals' noses or in the way the brain processes aroma messages. 

• Scientists at Bastyr University in Washington are studying the cancer-fighting properties of a fungus .  The varicolored mushroom species, commonly known as turkey tailhas long been used by herbal physicians in China and Japan.  The fungus of interest is a bracket fungus, meaning it grows on the sides of logs or trees.  It has no stem and feels tough like leather to the touch.  It can be brown, white, tan, orange, red or purple or all these colors at once.  Turkey tail is not poisonous, but it is too tough for humans to eat.  However, box turtles and gray squirrels love it.  Because it is already used to treat cancer in Asia, researchers funded by the NIH wanted to find out if the fungus actually has cancer fighting properties.  According to Fox 12 Oregon one of the investigators, Dr. Cynthia Wenner, said stories of a turkey tail tea possibly helping someone's stomach cancer got Asian pharmaceutical companies interest.  "In Asia, they're using it as an adjunctive or in combination with chemotherapy for fighting cancer," she said.  She and her colleagues are now trying to find which active ingredients in the fungus stimulate a person's immune system and if the stimulation is enough to get the body to fight off cancer. 

Colorful fungi and molds await us in the forest.
"Fuligo spetica", or as it's more commonly known, the dog vomit or
scrambled egg slime mold, is a common slime mold.

• The individual who desires to engage in the study (of wild mushrooms) must face a good deal of scorn.  He is laughed at for his strange taste among the better classes, and is actually regarded as a sort of idiot among the lower orders.  This popular sentiment, which we may coin the word "fungophobia" to express, is very curious.  If it were human - that is, universal - one would be inclined to set it down as instinct and to reverence it accordingly.  But it is not human - it is merely British."  TW. D. Hay, British Fungi, 1887.

• Mystery and truffles - perhaps a perfect combination for summer time reading.  We suggest a lawn chair, a cool drink and Pierre Magnan's Death in the Truffle Wood (St. Martin's Press, 2007, translated from the French in 1978 by Patricia Clancy) or Peter Mayle's Anything Considered (Vintage Books, 1997).  The former is full of quirky characters, including a truffle pig serving as the heroine and Commissaire Laviolette staring as a French detective in Provence.  Although written 30 years ago, most reviewers agree that it doesn't feel dated and is an intriguing whodunit.  The latter is a witty novel with a secret formula, stolen serum for producing truffles, elegant descriptions of world-class dining, auctions, and, as an extra bonus, you can purchase it on the web for as low as $6!

• In the storerooms of a Venice, Italy, museum, a University of California, Berkeley, scholar and Italian experts are at work on a rare collection, but the objects aren't Renaissance paintings or the art of ancient glassblowers.  Instead, the team is collecting samples from the largest and best preserved collection of fungi in Italy to create an

  
  Some mushrooms are
  simply deadly!

  unprecedented DNA database.  These 28,000 samples of fungi that represent 6,000 species are housed at the Venice Museum of Natural History, a partner with UC Berkeley for this ambitious project.  The collection also is one of the largest in Europe.  "We are building a huge molecular database that will be available to the entire scientific community," said Matteo Garbelotto, UC Berkeley adjunct associate professor of ecosystem sciences and principal investigator of the project.  "In addition to aiding research on the productivity of forests and agricultural ecosystems, this database will greatly aid the diagnosis of plant diseases."  "Often museums are seen as places where people just go and see things," said Garbelotto, who is doing this work during a sabbatical leave from UC Berkeley.  "This shows that museums are actually involved in cutting-edge research.  Providing a database of this scope is pretty novel."  The samples come from throughout Europe, with a significant number representing species found elsewhere in the world.  The Spore Print, L.A. Mycological Society, January 2007.

 

• "The mushroom is a clear and obvious sign to me that the Creator has a totally unreasonable affection for us."  Jeff Smith, The Frugal Gourmet.

• When and where mushrooms fruit is one of life's big mysteries.  Water and temperature are the main factors, but we do not have a formula to tell us exactly when mushrooms will fruit.  However, there is a small group of mushrooms that requires some other trigger than just moisture and the right temperature.  Some will fruit only when ammonia is available.  This can be in the form of a carcass, an animal latrine, or an old wasp next.  In an experimental plot at Salt Point State Park where urea was added to the soil, Tephrocybe Tylicolor, a small grayish mushroom, responded immediately and its fruit bodies appeared.  This species normally grows on places where cows have peed, around carcasses, and on dung...The more urea, the better.  Such mushrooms are called ammonia fungi, as they form fruit bodies only where ammonia and similar chemicals are available in great quantities.  Mycolog, Humboldt Bay Mycological Society, February 2007.

Cottonwood seeds can
be an indicator of
nearby verpa!

• A humble fungus, the morel mushroom, could soon relieve you from pain and protect you against tumors.  Scientists from Amala Cancer Research Center, Thrissur, have found significant anti-inflammatory and anti-tumor qualities in the mushroom extract - especially when administered to mice suffering from cancer - compared to the standard reference drug Diclofenac.  The extract, scientists say, could be put to therapeutic use in chemotherapy.  The team of scientists from Amala reported their findings in the latest edition of the Indian journal Current Science.  L.A. Mycological Society, February 2007.

• A courier arrived at JFK airport with white truffles.  Upon his arrival a Homeland Security beagle sniffed something alarming.  The courier was whisked into a back room, where the pricey truffles, along with some rare red mushrooms, were spilled out on a table.  Asked their value, the courier, worried that is he said the actual amount they were worth he'd arouse suspicion, replied "$300,"'  The Customers officer was unimpressed.  "You paid $300 for that?" he said of the stinky load, and let him go.  Boston Myco. Club Bulletin, 62(1), 2007.

 

• Where did the name mushroom come from?  Possible derivations include the following:  (1) From the French mousseron, generally considered to be from mousse (moss) because the species grow in moss or short grass or are soft,  (2) From a combination of the Welsh/Old British maes (a field) and rhum (a thing that bulges out), (3) From the French mousche (from the Latin musca), a fly.  OMS, MushRumors.

The stately foxglove is a
spring favorite!

• Fungus enthusiast Edward Gange and his son have amassed 52,000 sightings of mushrooms during their walks around Salisbury, England over a 50 year period.  Spectacularly, the elder Mr. Gange has found that more than one third of the species recorded have started to fruit twice per year.  There was no record of this before 1976.  Since then, 120 species have shown an additional fruiting in the spring.  Mr. Gange notes:  "We used to get cold days and nights in February which caused fungi to be dormant; these days we get very little of that."  In May of 2005 in Curry County, we encountered a small but delicious fruiting of golden chanterelles!

 

• The first time mushrooms were referred to as a crop, in any language, was in 1600, by Olivier de Srres, the great agriculturist, in his Theatre de'Agriculture des Champs.  He appears, though, to be talking about occasional, haphazard cultivation...  The true domestication dates from about 1678.  The botanist Marchant gave a demonstration to the Adademie des Sciences in Paris, to show that "the white filaments, which develop in the soil under mushrooms, will, if transplanted into a suitable medium, give rise to more mushrooms" - a discovery that the market gardeners of Paris were quick to profit from.  Travelers were commenting on their presence in Paris markets by the end of the century.  By 1708

  
  Spring is colorful in Curry
  County!

  they were recognized as one of the decadent attractions of Paris:  "Muse! sing the man that did to Paris go, That he might taste their soups and mushrooms know!"  Jane Grigson, The Mushroom Feast.

• During the reign of Louis XIV,
  the French were growing mushrooms in underground quarries, the same quarries that once produced the stone to build the city of Paris.  By 1867 a single cave with 21  miles of beds was growing 3,000 pounds of mushrooms a day.  Oregon Newspaper, "Food Day" section. 

• Nobody seems to know where the name portobello comes from.  At first, when most people thought that the mushrooms were imported from Italy, it was assumed that the name was Italian.  The name portobello stuck until somebody decided to make it even more Italian by spelling it portabella. Jack Czarnecki, Portobello.

• The portobello mushroom is a very large cremini, and a cremini is a brown or cream-colored version of the white button mushroom.  With one important distinction, the flavor of the portobello is the same as that of the common supermarket mushroom, except it is more distinct because it is older and more developed.  The gills on the underside of the mushroom have progressed to a greater degree from the pale pink stage at their first break...as the mushrooms develop and the gills become exposed and darken, the flavor becomes more intense. ..Since portobellos, by virtue of their size, are always well opened with developed gills, they also have more flavor.    Jack Czarnecki, Portobello.

• Interestingly, these giant cremini (portobello) were once considered oddballs and were treated more like weeds than mushrooms.  When cremini cultivation began, the first runs would often be abnormally large...these giants were shunned-and even discarded...In 1985, Phillips Mushroom Farms decided to market the larger first-run cremini as portobello mushrooms...The rest is history.  Jack Czarnecki, Portobello.

What a lovely find amongst the Oregon oxalis.

• "I have the same opinion of dances that physicians have of mushrooms; the best of them are good for nothing."  Saint Francis de Sales, Introduction to the Devout Life (1609).

• "But whatever dressing one gives to mushrooms, to whatever sauce our Apiciuses put them, they are really good but to be sent back to the dung heap where they were born."  Louis de Jacourt, Champignons (1753)

• "The rain had ceased at last, and a sickly autumn sun shone upon a land that was soaked and sodden with water.  Wet and rotten leaves reeked and festered under the foul haze which rose from the woods.  The fields were spotted with monstrous fungi of a size and colour never matched before-scarlet and mauve and liver and black.  It was as though the sick earth had burst forth into foul pustules; mildew and lichen mottled the walls, and with that filthy crop, Death sprang also from the water-soaked earth."  Arthur Conan Doyle, Sir Nigel (1906).

• "The fallen leaves are already smelling like spice-cakes.  The white mushrooms are uncommon, but if you find them, you pounce on them like a black kite, cut them off and remember, that you promised yourself not to cut them off right away when you saw them, but to admire them first.  Again I promised myself and forgot."  Mikhail Mikhailovich Prishvin, The Eyes of the Earth.

Someone's trying to break thru the forest floor.

• "Gold and silver and dresses may be trusted to a messenger, but not a boletus, because it will be eaten on the way."  Martial, Epigrams.

• One of the earliest cookbooks, credited to Apicius, although probably a compilation of recipes from multiple sources, includes a number of suggestions for cooking fungi.  The following is a typical Apician recipe, this one for cooking truffles.  "Boil and sprinkle salt, transfix with twigs, partly roast, place in a cooking vessel with liquor, oil, greens, sweet boiled wine, a small quantity of unmixed wine, pepper and a little honey, and let it boil; while boiling beat up with fine flour, prick the tubors that they may absorb, take out the twigs and serve."  Coelius Apicius, De opsoniis et condiments (ca AD 200).

• Now there's one more reason to visit Oregon's wine country:  the Joel Palmer House, in Dayton, showcases the mushroom artistry of chef Jack Czarnecki.  The award winning chef and cookbook author (Joe's Book of Mushroom Cookery, A Cook's Book of Mushrooms, and the Portobello Cookbook) has settled into this restored pioneer residence and offers a fine dining experience.  The intimate atmosphere, seating 45 diners in three connecting rooms, and the accent on mushrooms make for an evening of pure pleasure.  Can't make it to Dayton any time soon?  Then, why not prepare his "Three-Mushroom Tart" in our Appetizer section! 

 

• Mushroom Soup is the second most popular Campbell's soup - tomato is number one.
• Mushroom Pizza is the nation's second most popular pizza topping, right behind pepperoni.
• Domino's pizza chain orders its mushrooms sliced 1/8 inch thick.
• There are 16 million spores contained in each mushroom.
• 90% of a mushroom is water.
• About 2,500 varieties of mushrooms are grown worldwide.
• 80% of mushrooms are consumed by 20% of the population.
• 45% -55% of the cultivated mushrooms in the US are grown in Pennsylvania.
• 16%  of cultivated mushrooms are grown in California.
• 540,000 pounds of mushrooms are produced by Monterey Mushrooms in California each week.
• Source of these facts:  Oregonian Newspaper, "Food Day" section.

Photo courtesy of Brightwood's Bill White.

• There are hundreds of mushroom farms in Oregon, according to the Agri-Business Council of Oregon.  One large grower in Salem puts out 21 million pounds of product each year.  On a somewhat smaller scale, Curry County is home of Pistol River Mushrooms.  Oregonian Newspaper, "Food Day" section.

• Ancient peoples practiced mushroom magic and mushroom medicine.  The Celts believed mushrooms had to be harvested late at night beneath a full moon.   The Egyptians believed mushrooms were the sons of the gods sent to Earth on lightning bolts.  In this country, the Cherokee tribe inserted the puffball mushroom into the navel of newborn babies to stop the bleeding from the umbilical cord.  Oregonian Newspaper, "Food Day" section.

• Americans took up mushroom cultivation in 1890.  By 1896 a Pennsylvania florist was cultivating mushrooms as a crop.  Oregonian Newspaper, "Food Day" section.

• While the French have cultivated Agaricus species for 200 years, the Japanese have grown shiitakes for 2,000 years.  Oregonian Newspaper, "Food Day" section.

• Shiitake translates from Japanese as "shii mushroom" for the fungus grows naturally on shii, a member of the beech family.  Unattributed magazine article.

• "Humongous Fungus takes toll on fir forest" read the headline of a recent story out of Prairie City, Oregon.  Armillaria ostoyae underlies 2200

  
  Looks like Grouse is on a foray,
  too!

  acres east of the city in a remote corner of eastern Oregon's Blue Mountains at an elevation of about 6500 feet near the Strawberry Mountain and Monument Rock wilderness areas according to the US Forest Service.  Most people walking by would never know the fungus lurks just below the ground's surface, occupying its time in the quiet business of sending out rhizomorphs and wrapping them around tree roots.  It's roughly the size of 1600 football fields, and Forest Service researcher Catherine Parks, who has spent 10 years studying it, suggests it could be 8000 years old.  The only obvious signs of its presence are the gaps created when it kills trees.  Such openings aren't necessarily bad because they allow fungus-rsistant tree species and undergrowth to get a foothold, Parks reports.  And when a tree dies, it recycles its nutrients into the soil for trees that come after it, she adds.  Infected trees can be identified by cutting into the bark above the root.  White filaments called mycelia that sap water and carbohydrates from the tree to feed the fungus are always present in infected trees.  "It looks like latex paint," Parks says of the telltale mycelia.  "You are peel it off in a layer."  Malheur National Forest ecologist and tree expect Mike Tatum of John Day says a big, hot wildfire might someday cut the humongous fungus down to size.   On the other hand, it might get a lot bigger if nature fires no more broadsides its way.  "It will always be out there," commented Tatum.  Note:  This Humongous Fungus" is more commonly known as the Honey Mushroom, which is an edible and quite tasty specimen.  Oregonian Newspaper, June 10, 2007.