Mushrooms: A Magical Ingredient for Health

 

Mushrooms at Borough Market

Mushrooms are a bit like Marmite. Love ‘em or hate ‘em, they are an undeniable part of the UK food history. Long have they grown in our woodlands are a key element of a foragers bounty. Thought o have superhuman qualities, they also came with a sting in their tail. Some countries have deadly spiders, we have poisonous mushrooms. How many of you, like me, were taught at school about the deadly fungi lurking in the forest floor? Often the prettier and more attractive the mushroom, the more dangerous they are, information that has left an undeniable imprint on my willingness to pick any in the wild.

 

I’ve always enjoyed mushrooms, raw or cooked they are always welcome on my plate, especially with lashing of garlic butter. However, they’ve fallen off the shopping list for a good few years, as I never seen to get round to doing anything with them until it’s too late and they’ve become a pile of slime which can happen if you forget about them for too long.

My sister and I used to pilfer button mushrooms from the supermarkets vegetable section nibbling on them as we skulked around after our Mum, wishing to be anywhere but there. We didn’t often have them cooked, unless in a full english, which rarely occurred, favouring the raw mushroom in a salad. That said mushroom soup was on the black list for years after my father accidentally threw a cup of soup over some curtains during a sea voyage, and after 24 hours of a continuous pungent mushroom waft it was banned from darkening our cupboards again.

The Mighty Mushroom

The mushroom has long been revered. The Egyptians believed them to be the key to immortality issuing decrees so that the only people allowed to touch or eat them were Pharaohs. Ancient Romans called them cibus diorum otherwise known as ‘food of gods’.

Mushrooms were the first edible fungus to be grown in Europe, as legend has it, they appeared on the manure of a French melon grower and he cultivated them to sell to upmarket French restaurants.

Miles of underground tunnels in Paris saw illegal mushroom cultivation flourish from the 1600s. Their dark and moist temperatures allowed the Champignon de Paris to become hugely popular in French cuisine. Even today, mushroom farming continues in the area, with only a slight blip when the Metro was developed and farms moved to caves in the outskirts of the city.

A recent visit to Borough market with fellow Bitchbuzz columnist Charlotta Hedman reminded me of the importance of the mushroom to our diet. We stumbled across a mushroom stall as she recounted a Finnish dish of cooked mushrooms and cream served on toast, inspiring me to go forth and get a mixture of chanterelle and girolle mushrooms which I gently sautéed with garlic and served with toasted rye & pumpernickel bread from FlourPowerCity for lunch.

The New Superfood?

Research into mushrooms have uncovered that they are indeed a superfood. The common button mushroom is an excellent source of minerals including chromium – which is key in blood sugar regulation – potassium, iron, zinc and copper. They also contain high levels of B vitamins essential for brain health, immune defence, stress reduction and energy production. Crimini mushrooms aka brown and Portobello mushrooms have all of the above plus lots of B6 and B12.

Most recently the phytochemical properties have been the object of anti-cancer research. Research has centred around shiitake, maitake and reishi mushrooms, which are more common in the Chinese and Japanese cuisine however even the more common varieties have been shown to contain anti-cancerous polysaccharide and beta-glucan components. Beta-D-Glucan is the property responsible for the mushroom’s immune-enhancing effects by activating white blood cells to trigger a chain of events that lead to increased immune activity and prevention of cancer.

Preparation and Cooking

The mushroom needs minimal prep so it’s the perfect ingredient for a snappy lunch or dinner. Contrary to popular belief, it doesn’t need to be washed, peeled or brushed. If you want to do anything, cut off the very end and wipe gently with a damp towel.

If you’re eating fresh or raw, cut just before using otherwise they lose their texture and colour. They contain lots of moisture so will shrivel on cooking. I’d advise that you cut them into quarters or pop them under the grill.

Mushrooms contain 1:1 ratio of protein:carbohydrate and very little fibre or fats. They are low in calories, but this increases with the addition of high fat content ingredients that are usually teamed with fungi.

Meal ideas:

1)   Sautéed with garlic and butter, served on toast with or without a poached egg

2)   Grilled Portobello mushroom with goats cheese and roast tomatoes

3)   Sautéed in butter with crème fraiche or yoghurt served on toast

4)   Sliced and added to a salad of lettuce, cucumber and pine nuts

5)   Omelette with onion, garlic and sliced mushrooms

image by sashafatcat

Carrot, Beetroot and Lentil Soup

During the autumn and winter months, you will find me making soup at least a couple of times a month. It is one of the easiest things in the world to make and if you are on a budget, it is cheap, wholesome and a filling meal.

The pre-made soup market is booming, but unfortunately many of our favourite brands are chock-full of salt, sugar, fillers and preservatives that are not required by our bodies. They are also expensive. but not as expensive as buying soups from the plethora of sandwich chains that provide a large majority of the working population with our lunch.

Homemade soups are, in my opinion, much tastier and higher in nutritional value. Not only are they significantly cheaper, the other bonus is that you can include whatever ingredients you like as well as make it the consistency you like. Take me, I’m not a lover of liquidised soups, preferring chunky soups that are filling. I prefer to have something that fills my soul rather than leave me hungry. The added bonus being that I avoid the de rigueur slab of bread as I don’t need anything else to fill me up.

Transportation and storage:

• Soup can keep in a saucepan on the hob for a few days, without needing refrigeration (assuming you live in a colder climate such as the UK)
• Re-heating: warm soup in a smaller saucepan rather than re-heating the whole thing. This preserves the nutrients in the soup and also helps with your energy bills.
• Avoid boiling soup as this damages the nutrients and microwaving; nuking soup renders it unrecognisable as food by the body.
• Use a thermos to transport soup – it keeps it warm for hours and removes the re-heating requirement or the need for a bowl if you’re caught short.

Last week, I made a delicious carrot, beetroot & lentil soup which came about from the basic need to use up these root vegetables that were left over from the previous week. I wanted to share it with you all as not only is it super-filling, it is ridiculously easy to make.

1 bunch of carrots (about 8 medium)

1 bunch of beetroot (about 6)

1 cup puy green or red lentils

1 onion

1 litre of chicken stock – either fresh or marigold stock cube

Method:

Chop the onions and gently cook in some olive oil.

Scrub, top and tail and chop carrots and beetroot; add to the onions.

Cook at a medium heat for 10 minutes, stirring regularly

Add lentils to the vegetables and pour the stock over the vegetables. The stock ought to reach a third higher than the vegetables. If not, then just add some more water.

Bring the soup to the boil and reduce to a simmer for 20 minutes. Check the vegetables, if they are soft then the soup is ready, if not simmer for 10 minutes longer or until soft to the touch. If you are not eating immediately, you can always turn the heat off and leave the vegetables to cook in the hot liquor without heat.

This bit is up to you – you can either liquidise the soup, mash it to squish the vegetables but retain the lentils or leave as is, like I have.

If the lentils soak up the liquid exponentially, then just add some more water.

Key Nutritional Benefits:

• Carrot and beetroot are abundant in beta-carotenes, the red/yellow/orange anti-oxidants tha are especially good in helping ward off colds.
• Lentils provide B vitamins that are fantastic for energy, immune health and mental clarity. They contain fibre to help keep you regular and bind with toxins and waste products from the body for elimination. Lentils also contain amino acids, the building blocks of proteins, a source of which is very important for those following a vegetarian and vegan diet.

Image by Nick Saltmarsh