What’s your first memory related to anything looking like a mushroom?

For me, it would have to be my mom in a near panic saying, “Don’t touch that! It could be poison!” This was the message as my childish fingers reached for a toadstool.

Her messages did the trick – I never attempted to eat anything growing in the yard or anywhere else that looked like a mushroom – I stuck with cultivated, generic-looking mushrooms found on the grocery shelves of the local market, thank you.

News stories of so-called experts dying from eating what they foraged for in the forests have also kept me staying with what I could find in the store.

But mushrooms are entering the conversations of the health-conscious more and more.

While many enthusiasts are running to the supplement stores for mushroom powders and pills, I’m getting acquainted with a wider variety of mushrooms as food, because sauteed mushroom slices can add so much texture and flavor to any meal.

After experimenting with using portobello caps as buns for hamburgers – ugh, I could never get those right…too juicy – I am learning about other options.

While recently enjoying the bounty of my daughter’s weekly CSA box, Community Supported Agriculture, we were treated to Lion’s Mane Mushrooms. Wow!

Cool look. Cool name. Supposed to be good for brain health (Sign me up!). Exciting to prepare because it’s so different. Amazing taste.

After reading about medicinal mushrooms, “Medicinal Mushrooms: 7 Kinds and Their Unique Health Benefits,” which can be found at Real Mushrooms, I am determined to incorporate more varieties of cultivated mushrooms into my diet.

The humble button/white mushroom that most of us use can boost our Vitamin D2 intake!

It seems that when these little guys are grown in the sunlight, they absorb Vitamin D. If you do not know if they were grown in light or not, even after harvesting, they can absorb vitamin D when placed in the sunlight.

Who knew?

From now on, I’m going to expose my mushrooms to sunshine before using. How long, though?

Researching that question led me to fungi.com and their fascinating article: Place Mushrooms in Sunlight to Get Your Vitamin D — Fungi Perfecti.

We are aware of the critical need for Vitamin D supplementation partially due to the sunscreens we smear on and because of the ever-increasing time we spend indoors. Sources of Vitamin D are covered in THIS post (February 2021).

Next time you are getting a checkup, please ask your healthcare provider to check your Vitamin D level along with the other blood panels being ordered. Most of us need more Vitamin D and may not be aware of serious deficiencies, otherwise.

Back to the sunshine, vitamins, and mushrooms.

The fungi perfecti authors put both button mushrooms and shiitake mushrooms to the test. Using samples under natural sunlight and others under UBV lamps, the mushrooms absorbed lots of Vitamin D – and retained it up to a year after – even when completely dehydrated – when exposed to the UV light “bottom” sides up/gill side up.

Mushroom stems were poor absorbers of Vitamin D.

So how long to zap our store-bought whole or sliced mushrooms? Their experiment resulted in dried mushrooms in sunlight six hours a day for two days.

Meh.

Not going to happen here. Not looking for a dried mushroom. I’m thinking about an hour or two in the direct sunlight – if it does not significantly change the texture and if I can keep bugs off.

Since vitamin D supplements are not vegan – they are derived from oil extracted from sheep wool – UV activated mushrooms could be a game changer for vegans.

I hope your curiosity for an expanded foray into the world of mushrooms has been peaked – I mean, who wouldn’t love to slice into a Lion’s Mane mushroom, sauté it in some butter/olive oil with salt and pepper, and be amazed at the tasty results?

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In health and heading to my screened porch with a tray of mushrooms –

Deidre

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