do you enjoy eating mushrooms raw?

are they ok to eat raw?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/05/2011 03:52PM by WanderRA.

I heard they have medicinal properties. Some grow them indoor.

I like them. They are like sponges--they soak up my raw dressing really well, as well as marinades.

What mushrooms do you guys eat raw out of interest? Ive never tried any raw yet.

Mushrooms do have health benefits, some such as reishi, shiitake, chaga in particular.

Personally, I like white and cremini (baby bellas) raw. I tried shiitakes raw...ick. Tasted like shiiit...

Ha ha.

I like button and crimini, enoki is so tiny and fun. Portobellos are nice marinated or in thin strips in a roll up.

For medicinal purposes I choose dried.

Haha that's funny banana, because the Shitake's I ONLY like raw. But the baby bella's and other forms I only liked when I grilled them. (I'm high raw, although I don't cook mushrooms often anymore)

Any recipes for a raw mushroom pate or something to line some lettuce wraps would be appreciated?

WanderRA Wrote:
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> do you enjoy eating mushrooms raw?
>
> are they ok to eat raw?

no, they are toxic.

I don't believe that, I think most edible mushrooms are just fine to eat raw. Why wouldn't they be?

Here's a recipe from the Sunny Raw Kitchen blog, it's nut based.


Nuts for Mushroom Pate
Inspired by Richard Salome's Vegetarian Chopped Liver Pate

1/2 cup soaked pumpkin seeds
1/2 cup soaked almonds
1/4 cup soaked walnuts
1/8 cup brown sesame seeds
1/8 cup soaked sunflower seeds
1 or 2 garlic cloves
1/2 cup mushrooms
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp powdered kelp
big handful of fresh parsley
1/4 tsp sage
2 tbs lemon juice
1/2 tbs oil
Braggs or salt, to taste
a little water

Blend nuts and seeds in processor until smooth.

Add remaining ingredients and blend until smooth, adding water until desired consistency is reached.

pborst Wrote:
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> WanderRA Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > do you enjoy eating mushrooms raw?
> >
> > are they ok to eat raw?
>
> no, they are toxic.

I have heard this also Paul, which is why ive never attempted and for some reason ive been too lazy to do any research on why they are raw. Any idea?

Cheers Coco



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/05/2011 06:19PM by powerlifer.

I cant say about ALL mushrooms, but ive been eating raw mushrooms most of my life, in LARGE amounts, primarily Boletes of various types, mostly young king and queens(basically the same as a Porcini)... and chanterelles, hedgehogs, and matsutake, the rest I usually eat cooked, and even these sometimes cooked or gently grilled... but mostly I just love the flavor and texture raw, or marinated...mmmmmm....

I don't have my copy of "Becoming Raw" with me. But I searched online and this sounds right:

[www.facebook.com] See Heather Dionne's comment about half way down the page or better yet, if you have the book, check out Becoming Raw. And apologies Coco, I shouldn't have said toxic, should have been a risk of carcinogencity.

"Raw mushrooms contain compounds called hydrazines, which are possible carcinogens. Cooking mushrooms or marinating them overnight in acid reduces them drastically. The amount of mushrooms in the study was 1/3 oz per day. Source = Becoming Raw by Davis & Melina, page 231-233. The book has the references to all the original studies, I highly recommend it."

note, marinating is an alternative to cooking apparently.

thats interesting, I personally think the fear of carcinogens and whatnot in mushrooms is do more to western mushroom phobia than any real danger, considering most cultures that eat large amounts of wild mushrooms, tend to have fairly low levels of cancer, then again that could be do to 1 of a billion other possible reasons, things that offset any possibly negative effects of mushrooms... so int he end, I guess the best way to go is keep raw consumption low, and limit the rest to marinated mushrooms...which are awesome...mmmmmmm...

theres a simple lemon, (roasted garlic) and rosemary marinade that I really enjoy... I only use the roasted garlic in this because, well, the marinade doesnt get eaten, its just imparting flavor, and I dont want to risk botulism, which you do with any raw garlic applications that sit around for awhile... and when i marinate mushrooms, I tend to make a lot at once... if one is making a small amount, I dont think raw garlic would be risky to use...mmmm im hungry for mushrooms now...I miss the mushrooms in my hometown...not a good area to harvest mushrooms around here, ive not seen a single edible variety yet:/

Corathegreen Wrote:
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> Haha that's funny banana, because the Shitake's I
> ONLY like raw. But the baby bella's and other
> forms I only liked when I grilled them. (I'm high
> raw, although I don't cook mushrooms often
> anymore)


Cora, you and I are opposite. Didn't want to say the S-word (saute), but I love shiitakes sauteed in olive oil and Bragg's...Baby bellas I like either way but I like them raw, too.

Marinated mushrooms sound awesome. Can you do it with any acid such as lemon or apple vinegar?

I like raw apple cider vinegar or raw grape vinegar (by Eden Foods). I also will put some salt or Bragg's Aminos in it, as well as some olive oil.

A couple of follow up points now that I have re-read the Davis & Melina on raw mushrooms:

- hydrazines are possible human carcinogens but it's based on animal experiments w/o much in the way of human epidata to support it.

- hydrazines are very degradable depending on how the mushroom is prepared. Storage in the refrigerator for 6 days, agaritine [a type of hydrazine] reduced by 25 percent, when stored for 14 days was reduced by 50 percent.

- agaritine when isolated from mushrooms completely dissapated in tap water in 48 hours. It's vulnerable to oxygen, and low ph. Although no studies have been done, Davis and Melina claim it's possible that marinating in lemon or vinegar may be effective in destroying the hydrazines.