Make the most of mushrooms
Mycophagists have been enjoying their delicious flavours for centuries
People have been mycophagists – mushroom eaters– at least since ancient Egyptian and Roman times.
So delicious were mushrooms that the rich and powerful tried to keep them for themselves. The Egyptian pharaohs declared mushrooms to be sacred, and reserved them for their own dining pleasure. Romans considered them to be food of the gods, but allowed others to consume them only on holy days and holidays.
Eating wild mushrooms can be risky. Poisonous mushrooms have led to the demise of many mycophagists. The Roman emperor Claudius died after consuming the deadly Amanita phalloides, the Death Cap mushroom, poisoned by his wife Agrippina. The same Amanita wiped out the family of Greek dramatist Euripides, killing his wife, daughter and two sons. Roman emperors Tiberius and Claudius died of mushroom poisoning, as did Pope Clement VII and Charles V of France. This is not to mention all the ordinary persons who unknowingly selected the wrong mushrooms for dinner.
What, then, is a mycophagist to do? If you are going to forage for mushrooms, you’d best be trained at identifying them. Some of the old methods of identification, such as whether or not the outer layer of the cap peeled off, are not reliable. With study and training, foragers become proficient at identifying wild mushrooms for consumption, and like those who keep their favourite fishing hole secret, they may not divulge the locations where foraging is best.
One of the mushrooms found on P.E.I. is the chanterelle, which is sometimes sold at the Charlottetown Farmers Market starting in midsummer. Chanterelles are firm-fleshed, trumpet-shaped yellow or orange mushrooms with a mild and somewhat nutty taste, and a chewy texture.
Puffballs also grow on Prince Edward Island. They are round and white, bland in flavour, and can grow to be very large. As they age, they will emit a cloud that looks like a puff of smoke when bumped; hence the name. At that point, they are no longer edible.
There are other wild Island mushrooms. Chef Jeff McCourt, in Flavours of Prince Edward Island (Whitecap, Vancouver, 2010), refers to shaggy manes, lobster mushrooms, porcini, lobster mushrooms and hen of the woods all growing here, and he tells some good foraging stories.
If foraging at the grocery store is more your style (It’s mine, as I am only sure of being able to recognize morels, puffballs and chanterelles), you can still achieve success. On a recent excursion, I found, in addition to the usual white or button mushrooms, cremini and their more mature siblings portobellos, enoki, oyster and shitake mushrooms.
Cremini and portobellos are the same mushrooms, at different ages. Both are brown in colour – the latter darker brown than the former – with a firmer texture and fuller flavour than white mushrooms.
Dense, meaty portobellos often make their way into vegetarian entrées.
Enoki mushrooms originated in Japan, and are the antithesis of portobellos. They come in clumps, with long thin stems and tiny white or orange caps.
They have a crisp texture when raw, as they often are, in salads or as a garnish for soups, and the flavour is mild.
Shiitake mushrooms, also originally from Japan and Korea, are now cultivated in North America, where they are sometimes called golden oak. They have a dark brown cap, on average 7.5-15 cm (3-6 inches) in diameter. The caps have a robust flavour, and the stems, also flavourful but tough, can be used to flavour broth.
The oyster mushroom is frilly and fan-like, and as you might infer from the name, the shape of any oyster shell. It is found in colours ranging from pale gray to dark brownish-gray, and I have seen cultivated ones in a gorgeous shade of pink, which unfortunately does not last through cooking.
What to do with all these mushrooms? Every mycophagist will have a different answer.
I’ll be honest and tell that I am just learning about most of them. What I do know is that the flavours of most mushrooms go together wonderfully well with cheese, as evidenced in pizza, grilled cheese with sautéed mushrooms and creamy sauces.
I also know that mushroom flavours become richer and deeper, more interesting, when they are browned by sautéing or roasting.
I’ll have more to say about them later, after I learn more.