I wondered what ideas people have for mushrooms. I do eat them raw sometimes in salads but I don't really enjoy them like that. I do not have a dehydrator.

some kind of marinade perhaps?

I like to put a couple of Shiitake Mushrooms into my VM along with a large ripe tomato and blend up a soup.

You can marinate the caps in lemon juice and stuff with sprouted sunlfower seeds and serve as an appetizer!

-David Z. Mason

WWW.RawFoodFarm.com

i like to marinate mine, they have a very toothsome texture.

dash of olive oil, nama shoyu, apple cider vinegar and dired oregano

That sounds very nice. How long do you leave them for?

I marinate them like that along with mung bean sprouts. I marinate them as long as i like. Sometimes I eat them right away. Mung bean sprouts pair up nicely with them. Sometimes I add bell pepper, yum. I love to make soups out of mushrooms too.

I buy the biggest mushrooms I can find and then spread them with avocado and add sliced tomato on top...like burgers!

Sorry to be a wet blanket here but I never eat raw mushrooms anymore...and cooked ones only sparingly. I've just read way too much on them being toxic to feel comfortable ingesting the sundry little funghi. And I LOVE mushrooms!!! Epecially portobella, chanterelle and shittake (which, allegedly, is unsafe even when cooked).

Am I being neurotic? Certainly open to correction if anyone around here's got a different take on this. Or read research to the contrary that I may have missed.

"Many hydrazines are known to be strong carcinogens and can be found in a lot of edible mushrooms. Cooking destroys some or all of the hydrazines, but the steam given off during cooking has been known to make some cooks ill. Besides this fact, the structural material or cell walls in mushrooms is made of chitin, and humans don’t have the ability to digest this derivative of cellulose. The body can do several things to this undigested chitin. It can expel it by vomiting or send it the other way with diarrhea. Small amounts may pass through the gut with other food and go unnoticed, or it may stay in the gut where bacteria will work on it causing bloating, gas, and other discomfort. Cooking does not destroy chitin but may ease its effect.

I recommend that no mushrooms be eaten raw. Some mushrooms contain potentially carcinogenic hydrazines that are deactivated on cooking. Others contain an enzyme that blocks protein uptake. Mushrooms can be very nutritious after cooking but are generally hard to digest or worse when eaten raw. Paradoxically, several strains of the common commercial button mushroom including the now popular Portobello, contain significant levels of Agaritine, a potentially carcinogenic hydrazine that is bioactivated by cooking."

~lanie

"Beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing lies a field. I'll meet you there." ~Rumi



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/31/2008 10:43PM by Lanie.

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Posted by: claire (IP Logged)
Date: March 31, 2008 11:08AM

I buy the biggest mushrooms I can find and then spread them with avocado and add sliced tomato on top...like burgers!

yummmmmmm, That sounds great and I can hardly wait to try it. I have never felt anything but good after eating mushrooms.

I would be sad too if I didn't eat them sometimes...those really huge mushrooms are really "meaty" to eat so that's good if I'm starving!

Lanie thats interesting. I wonder if any one else has information about this. I must say that I always feel fine after eating mushrooms.

We always used to go collecting parasols, ceps and chanterelles and then fry them up and have them on granary toast. Now I'm just looking for raw ideas - yes I like the idea of spreading one with avocado and tomato too.

flipperjan: I actually always feel fine after eating mushrooms too, to be honest. Guess I'm just bothered by the thought of carcinogens and other nefarious substances floating around in my body. Hmmmm...

Maybe I shouldn't think so much and just go with what feels right. Sometimes the internet can be scary if you hang out too long. SO much info take in and process. Hard to know what to belief, no?

~lanie

"Beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing lies a field. I'll meet you there." ~Rumi