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 motaman
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Registered: 12/18/02
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 The world of edible mushrooms 
#6014000 - 08/30/06 09:59 PM (5 years, 8 months ago) |
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http://www.navhindtimes.com/articles.php?Story_ID=083047
The world of edible mushrooms
by Nandkumar Kamat
EDIBLE mushrooms are very popular in Goa but the consumers here have poor knowledge about these species, their ecological and biological aspects. An American anthroplogist, Wasson has divided the humans into ‘mycophobes’ (those who hate mushrooms) and ‘mycophiles’ (mushroom lovers). Mycophagy means eating fungi. Ethnomycophagy deals with tradition of certain cultures to consume fungi, mostly mushrooms.
Each country has its own ethnomycophagic tradition. Over 1,00,000 fungi are known in the world. Of these more than 3,000 are mushrooms. But all are not edible and exploitable. Like the discovery of the edible plants. The knowledge of edible mushrooms dates back universally to the pre-historic phase of human cultural history. More than 2,000 worldwide species of wild edible mushrooms which are gathered from their natural habitats prove the antiquity of the ethnomycophagic traditions. A common man cannot distinguish an edible mushroom from a look-alike poisonous variety. So, inexperienced people should not venture out to collect mushrooms.
Recently three cases of mushroom poisoning were reported in Goa-one from Vantem. During my 20 years of research mostly at Goa University I have recorded about 100 different species of edible mushrooms in Goa, 35 of these species are collected by the locals from the wild for consumption and only 12-14 species produce a marketable crop which is sold from July to September.
Local species have interesting local names-Olmi or Alami, Roenichim, Toshali, Chochyali, Khut or Khuti, Shiti, Shitol , Shiringar Olmi, Shendari, Kuski, Dukor, Surya Olmi, Tel Alami, Fuge, Bhuifod are some of the common local names. But, scientifically, what are these mushrooms? The word mushroom is thought to be derived from the French ‘mousseron’ (muceron), ‘moussee’ or ‘moss’. The Greeks used the word ‘mykes’ for mushroom generally, and the science of fungi or mycology, etymologically is the study of mushrooms.
In simple words, mushrooms are larger fungi, or “plants without chlorphyll’. Mushrooms are fully vegetarian items. Fungi, unlike the plants cannot produce their own food using the sunlight as source of energy. The mushroom fungus exists in a thin, white filamentous stage. Only when it grows and produces a visible, big fruiting structure, we recognise it as mushroom. Just as plants produce seeds within the fruits, the mushrooms produce microscopic seeds called ‘spores’.
A single specimen can produce about 2-4 billion spores. Not all of these germinate. Those which survive under wet conditions germinate and give rise to a filamentous stage which is recognised by biotechnologoists as powerful source of biomolecules like enzymes. These filaments are known as mycelium. A lot of research has been carried out in 20th century, in UK, USA, Holland, France, Japan to domesticate new species of mushrooms.
In India, such research began only after 1950. In nature mushrooms grow wild in almost all types of soils on decaying organic matter, wooden stumps etc. People who traditionally collect mushroom crops from the wild identify their habitats correctly. Such collection trips are known as ‘forays’ and these are immensely popular in the western world.
In Afro–Asian countries however, mostly the tribals gather and market the wild edible mushrooms. There are no fixed criteria to identify edibility of the wild mushrooms merely from the knowledge of its habit, habitat or morphology or through simple chemical tests.
Mushrooms have high protein content (19-35 per cent on a dry weight basis) of good quality (all essential amino acids for man including lysine and methionine, which are present in plants in very small amounts). This can be compared to 7.3 per cent in rice, 13.2 per cent in wheat, 39.1 per cent in Soybean and 25.2 per cent in milk. Considering the protein-calorie mal-nutritional problems in underdeveloped countries, mushroom cultivation on commercial scale has been identified as a promising area to guarantee food security in the 21st century.
Mushrooms can be compared more favourably with other crops in terms of yield per unit area. For example cereals can give an annual yield 3,000 to 6,000 kg/ha. But mushrooms may give up to 2 million kg/ha. Furthermore mushrooms have a high proportion of unsaturated fatty acids, are a good source of vitamins such as riboflavin and nicotinic acid and a good source of pantothenic acid as also appreciable amounts of thiamine, folic acid, and ascorbic acid. Mushrooms contain fibre and minerals and are low in calories, sodium, fat and cholesterol. In addition their nucleic acid content is not high to limit their daily use as a vegetable. Although, about 2,000 wild edible mushroom species from 30 genera are regarded as prime edible mushrooms, only 80 of these are grown experimentally. Of these 40 are cultivated economically and around 20 cultivated commercially. Only 5 to 6 species are produced on commercial scale. These are Agaricus bisporus, Pleurotus ostreatus, Volvariella volvacea, Lentinus edodes, Morchella sp and Flammunila velutips. However species like Auricularia polytricha, Pholiota nameko, Russula sp etc are cultivated in south eastern countries and are highly priced in those countries.
Japan, Korea, China, Taiwan, etc are the leading producers. Total mushroom production world-wide has increased more than 10-fold in the period of 25 years from about 3,50,000 tonne in 1965 to about 4,300,000 tonne in 1991. The bulk of this increase has occurred during the eighties. A considerable shift has occurred in the composition of genera that constitute the mushroom supply. During the 1979 production year, the button mushroom, Agaricus bisporus, accounted for over 70 per cent of the world’s supply. By 1991, only 37 per cent of world production was A bisporus.
Mainland China is the major producer (2,200,000 t or about 50 per cent of the total) of edible mushrooms. M/s Zuari Foods and Farms Pvt Ltd managed by food technologist Dr Sangam Kurade has set up a modern Button mushroom plant at Bhatapal Canacona with a capacity of 600 MT per year. These cultivated mushrooms are marketed all round the year. They have captured Pune, Mumbai, Bangalore and Chennai markets.
Taste these button mushrooms for health and longevity. Oyster mushrooms (Pleurotus) have great future in Goa. These can be grown almost for 10 months of year on simple raw materials like paddy straw. The best season is from September to February. These mushrooms can be processed for value addition. Oyster mushroom cultivation could become a cottage industry. Women’s groups, farmers’ co-operatives could establish oyster mushroom cultivation units.
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CptnGarden
fuck this site
Registered: 05/12/04
Posts: 11,945
Last seen: 3 years, 1 month
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Re: The world of edible mushrooms [Re: motaman]
#6014118 - 08/30/06 10:38 PM (5 years, 8 months ago) |
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Quote:
Over 1,00,000 fungi
was that just a very bad DoH?
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