Editorial
Front Page - Friday, October 23, 2009
Kay's Cooking Corner
Kay Bona
This past weekend, I went on a hiking trip. Although this may not be a big deal to some of you, I say it with great satisfaction! Not only was I hiking, I was toting a 30-pound camera backpack and a tripod. However, I am paying for it today.
I took a short nature photography class over the weekend, which ended with a hike up at Petit Jean Mountain. The cool, crisp, but sunny weather and the vibrant colors of the changing autumn leaves created a brilliant backdrop to the creek beds full of trickling water.
One thing there was plenty of was mushrooms, lichens and fungi. Because we have had our fair share of rain lately, we now have quite a crop of these covering the forest floors and trees.
I have never studied mushrooms much, so I wasn’t sure which ones were edible or not. I just passed on all of them! Since I have been back, though, I have learned the names most of the ones I saw, and some were not mushrooms at all, but mold that looked like mushrooms!
There were so many colors and shapes. Coral mushrooms, puffball mushrooms, shelf mushrooms (the ones growing on the side of a tree). One of the fanciest to all of the group were the coral mushrooms. Like Ashley, our editor said, if there had not been a leaf in the picture I took, it could have been mistaken for being a piece of coral living in the ocean.
I have always been leery of picking mushroom growing out in the wild, even if I know it is a safe one, so for the time, I will stick to the ones you can forage for on the store shelf. However, if you are more adventurous, the time is ripe.
Mushrooms are quite healthy because they are very dense in nutrients. They are a great source of phosphorus, magnesium, riboflavin, niacin, potassium and selenium, and are basically fat and cholesterol free. Mushrooms are also low in sodium, and are a good source of fiber.
According to the hieroglyphics from 4,600 years ago ancient Egyptians decreed mushrooms were food for royalty so that no commoner could ever touch them, thus assuring themselves the entire supply.
In various other civilizations mushroom rituals were practiced. Some cultures believed mushrooms held properties that produced super-human strength, helping in finding lost objects or leading the soul to the realm of the gods. (They must have been eating the hallucinogenic ones) I’ve heard they can take you on quite a trip!
The White Button, Crimini, Portabella, Miatake, Shiitake, Enoki, Oyster, and Beech mushrooms are some of the more common mushrooms found in supermarkets; however, the White Button is the most popular, representing about 90 percent of mushrooms consumed in the Untied States.
A serving of 4-5 white mushrooms provides 18 calories, 0 grams of fat and 3 grams of carbohydrates. And, other than being an excellent source of the nutrients mentioned above, they have close to 300 mg of potassium per serving.
If you’re looking for a way to boost your mushroom
consumption, try the stew below. It is both healthy and yummy! Especially during our cool, fall weather.
Chicken and zucchini stew
1-1/2 pounds chicken breast, skinned and deboned
Olive oil
1 cup white button mushrooms, sliced
2 cloves garlic
1 small green bell pepper, diced
18 ounces canned tomatoes, diced
1 cup chicken broth, fat-free, sodium-free
2 medium zucchini
Salt and black pepper to taste
2 teaspoons basil, fresh
Brown chicken in small amount of oil until almost done. Remove from pan and chop. Add mushrooms, garlic and green pepper to pan. Saute until tender. Add all ingredients to a medium saucepan and bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer until vegetables are done.
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