The magic of mushrooms, the unexpected health booster
Taschen’s coffee-table book The Gourmand’s Mushroom looks at how fungi are portrayed in art, literature and music, and explores the health benefits of various species
Vancouver-based chef Robin Kort loves foraging for mushrooms. “I like the treasure hunt. It’s been sort of a lifelong passion, and because I’m a chef, my palate has led me into the forest,” she explains. “Going into the forest and picking mushrooms is super fun and exciting, because they’re just weird little creatures. And as you’re walking along, if you approach the forest from that sort of way of finding treasure, walking slowly, it’s very meditative.”
She says the assortment of mushrooms in North American supermarkets is bland, usually limited to button mushrooms only, but in the forest there are many more such as matsutake, cauliflower and lobster mushrooms, which are red with a hint of seafood taste.
One of her favourites is the prince mushroom, which is related to the button mushroom but smells like anise or marzipan, and is meaty and rich like a portobello. She sautés them to enhance the flavour of steaks and pastas. “I also like to dry mushrooms, turn them into powder and add them in sticky toffee pudding to give it more umami,” Kort says.
Mushrooms not only amplify savoury flavours, but are also healthy ingredients to add to your diet – they contain a lot of nutrients beneficial to the body, such as vitamin D, which boosts immune function, reduces inflammation and helps build strong bones.
According to a meta-analysis by UCLA Research, eating as few as two medium-sized mushrooms a day may help decrease the risk of cancer by as much as 45 per cent. Further, fungi like shiitake, oyster, maitake and king oyster have high amounts of ergothioneine, an amino acid and antioxidant that prevents or slows cellular damage.
Mushrooms have a fleshy texture, making them a good alternative to meat because these vegetarian substitutes contain compounds that inhibit the production of cholesterol, and can also help stimulate a healthier gut and produce healthy bacteria. Fungi are also naturally low in sodium.
Taschen’s coffee-table book The Gourmand’s Mushroom offers a number of ideas on how to cook them, from cream of mushroom soup to mushroom stroganoff and mushroom fried rice.
