Cooking and Eating Mushrooms
Mushrooms are generally tender, sponge-like, and consist of 70%-90% water. For this reason, you should almost never wash your mushrooms as they will absorb water and become “mushy”. I personally start by wiping off any debris, and cutting off any undesirable parts of the mushroom (usually at the base of the stem where you might find some substrate still clinging on).
If this is your first time trying gourmet mushrooms, it is recommended to sauté the mushrooms in a pan with a small amount of butter, salt, pepper, garlic, and/or paprika on medium to high heat. This will keep the mushrooms firm and delicious. Cooking a mushroom at lower temperatures can cause the mushroom to release a lot of water content and get soggy.
Once sautéed you might notice that they will lose their color, this is normal as you’re breaking down all the essential nutrients hiding within the chitinous fungal cell walls. A nice golden brown color is a perfect indicator that they’re ready! You can add them to your dish, or try them a la carte!
Why can’t we eat mushrooms raw?
Mushrooms are a unique kingdom, they are not plants and share closer genetics to animals than they do with plants. The split between plants had occurred over 1.5 billion years ago, whereas animals and fungi split 1 billion years ago. Thanks to this, we find a plethora of unique and beneficial constituents in the fungal kingdom that are not normally found in any other food group.
These active constituents, however, are locked away in the chitinous cell walls of the mushroom. Chitin (kahy-tin) is a polysacharide that is most notably found in the shells of insects and crustaceans. For our stomach it is similar to insoluble fibers, like cellulose.
What does this mean?
Simply put, most humans’ gut biome is not well equipped to digest raw mushrooms. The enzyme that assists with breaking down chitin “acidic mammalian chitinase” (AMCase) is not normally found in our stomachs. This is, of course, changes for cultures and regions where insects and crustaceans are part of the daily diet.
Source: National Library of Medicine
There is currently not enough information to ascertain that the human gut can be trained to raise AMCase levels.
If you eat edible mushrooms raw, you may experience gastrointestinal distress.
Never eat any mushroom that has not been 100% identified, as it may lead to more damaging effects than just simple stomach upset.
This is why it is very important to cook the mushrooms properly and thoroughly to not only reduce risk, but to also extract the powerful nutrients that mushrooms have to offer!
