Growing mushrooms

Mushrooms are naturally rich in minerals and vitamins, low in calories, high in antioxidants and cholesterol-free. They lend a deliciously unique fl avour to cooking, and growing them is an art.

- Cat Woods

Mushrooms come in so many shapes, sizes, colours and flavours that it would be impossible to give them a one-size-fits-all profile. That said, all mushrooms are high in copper, potassium, zinc, folate, selenium and magnesium. Further, mushrooms are high in ergothioneine (also known as “ergo” for short), which has shown to have preventive and healing properties in the treatment of chronic disease and inflammation.

Typically, it is the mushroom caps that are most nutrient-dense, rather than the stems, but this is dependent on the type.

Research conducted by American professor Robert Beelman for the Center for Plant and Mushroom Foods for Health at Penn State College of Agricultural Sciences in 2017 found that the level and quality of nutrients between mushrooms was highly variable, depending on the type and how they were grown. Beelman found that the everyday button mushroom, the type most commonly found in supermarkets, is high in potassium and selenium, but it is the more exotic species such as oyster, shiitake, maitake, porcini, reishi and cordyceps that contain significantly higher concentrations of ergo.

Beelman also found that mushrooms contain vitamin D only where they have been grown in sunlight or exposed to UV light, which is not always the case for common or exotic mushrooms.

According to Beelman, the only way to get the advised 3 milligrams of ergo daily is to eat 100 grams of button mushrooms or 25 grams of oyster, shiitake or other exotic mushrooms.

The mushroom market