Meatless Monday: More on Mushrooms

Happy Monday everyone.

Yes, mushrooms are the topic once again. But please humor me while I tell you some things you may not know about fungi and why they make a perfect Meatless Monday post. 

First of all, mushrooms are not meat. But neither are they vegetables. In fact, fungi form their own kingdom. Members of the fungi kingdom (which includes edible mushrooms) and the animal kingdom (which includes us) are more closely related to each other than they are to plants! Since neither animals or fungi can make their own food as plants and algae can, they are known as heterotrophs. 

All heterotrophs are not the same. While we ingest (or sometimes “inhale”) our food, fungi absorb nutrients from outside their bodies. Since fungi can digest compounds from a wide range of sources — both living and dead — they play an important role in the ecosystem. Their ability to consume any carbon-containing substance has led mycologist Paul Stamets to experiment with cultivating oyster mushrooms as a means of remediating oil spills. In fact, Stamets has written a book, Mycelium Running, describing the many ways mushrooms can help save the world — from filtering pathogens to providing a source of nutrients and medicines.

A fungus discovered in Oregon is 1998 is the world’s largest living thing, many times larger than a blue whale and, except for small outcroppings of mushrooms at its surface, hidden from our view. [What we know as a “mushroom” is actually the fruiting body of the organism, which erupts from an underground system of branching, thread-like mycelia in response to an environmental stimulus like rain.] This pathogenic honey mushroom fungus, occupying nearly four square miles of soil, causes the conifer-killing Armillaria root disease. Its age is estimated to be 2,400 years, but it could be as ancient as 8,650. Reports are that the honey mushrooms are edible but not particularly tasty to everyone.

But I digress — back to edible mushrooms and their nutritional properties. Mushrooms are a low calorie, low sodium source of protein, dietary fiber, iron and other essential minerals, as well as a variety of other compounds purported to have medicinal properties — a wonder food, particularly for a vegan. A good source of some B vitamins, mushrooms do lack A, C, and D. While A and C are found in many fruits and vegetables, getting enough dietary D can pose a problem for vegans. 

Nutritional data for the oyster mushroom

But here’s one more interesting thing. Mushrooms are one of the few food sources in which ergosterol, the precursor to vitamin D, occurs naturally. Researchers have discovered that a small amount of vitamin D is synthesized in mushrooms by exposure to naturally occurring UV light, and that this conversion can be accelerated by exposing the mushrooms to 18-20 additional seconds of UV light during processing. In short, mushrooms are already a really good food, and some day may be an even better one. 

Not everyone can experience the thrill of harvesting mushrooms in the wild, as Michael Pollan described in The Omnivore’s Dilemma. Yet in 2011 there is no reason to be mushroom deprived. While it is true that in the past mushrooms were only sold canned, now both fresh and dried varieties are readily available in most supermarkets and green grocers. According to a 2007 article in Scientific American, a large button mushroom farm can produce as many as one million pounds of mushrooms in a year. 

Mushrooms are a rather pricey source of protein, particularly when compared to beans. But they are versatile and you can use them sparingly, fresh or dried, to enhance a number of dishes, making them a perfect choice for Monday and every day.

The idea of growing edible fungi at home, has recently well, you might say, “mushroomed.” The New York Times has described “inoculation parties” for would-be backyard mushroom farmers, and countless others are growing them on their windowsills. Next week I’ll let you know what’s up with the mushroom kit I started.

I try to blog on food or food issues each Monday in support of Meatless Monday, one of several programs developed in the Healthy Monday project, founded in 2003 in association with Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Communications. Meatless Monday’s goal is “to help reduce meat consumption 15% in order to improve personal health and the health of our planet.”

Hair to the Rescue

Efforts to contain the leak from the wreckage of the Deepwater Horizon in the Gulf of Mexico have so far failed. Over 200,000 gallons of crude oil are being spilled into the Gulf each day. And winds are pushing the oil closer to the Mississippi Delta.

Rather than sit idly by while they await the spill’s landfall, Gulf residents are gathering at “Boom B Qs” where they are making sausage shaped booms of human hair and nylon stockings, designed to soak up the oil before it hits land. The residents are supplying the manual labor. San Francisco-based nonprofit Matter of Trust is collecting the materials and providing the initial training. This photo of such a gathering comes from their site: www.matteroftrust.org2

Matter of Trust is the group who mobilized and organized surfers to collect sludge using mats of human hair after the 2008 oil spill in San Francisco Bay. In response to this current emergency, the group is orchestrating an “International Natural Fiber Recycling Movement.” They are collecting hair, fur, and nylons for shipment to the Gulf — “Everyone is welcome!” At the Matter of Trust site you will find clear instructions for shipping materials. They are also looking for monetary donations to cover the cost of the netting in which the booms must be encased.

The response has been huge. After the initial flood of donations caused chaos in the postal system, Matter of Trust has been assigned their own zip codes. On May 7 Petco announced that its nearly 1,000 grooming centers have joined the movement, with hopes of collecting a ton of hair per day. Hanesbrands, Inc. has donated 37,500 pairs of pantyhose to Matter of Trust, and an additional 12,500 pairs to a second group with the same mission, The Sunshine and Shores Foundation in Florida.

This novel use for human hair was pioneered in 1989 by hair stylist Phil McCrory. He was shampooing a client’s hair while watching coverage of the Exxon Valdez oil spill cleanup. McCrory had his eureka moment when he realized, after seeing the oil-soaked fur of an Alaskan otter, “We shampoo because hair collects oil.” McCory decided to try this experiment at home. He stuffed a pair of his wife’s pantyhose with five pounds of hair clippings, and tied it into a ring. He then poured a gallon of used motor oil into a filled kiddie pool and lowered his invention into the water. After he removed the pantyhose two minutes later, the water in the pool was crystal clear.

What a stroke of genius — using such a readily available waste product for bioremediation!

McCrory called his product OttiMat™. His invention (at right) is currently being fabricated in China from purchased hair and a small amount of polypropylene. Durable as well as effective, the mats can be rung out and used again and again. McCrory continues to lend his expertise to Matter of Trust, who hopes to partner with OttiMat™ to make the product in the US.

After the San Francisco oil spill, Matter of Trust worked with mycologists (those who study fungi) to find a way to decontaminate the oil-soaked mats.  Mycelia, the filamentous hyphae or “roots,” of the oyster mushroom (Pleurotus streatus) were introduced to a limited number of mats. The mycelia grew extremely well on this surface, effectively breaking down the petrochemical sludge. The fruiting mushrooms were themselves toxin-free.

For those of you interested in reading more about the exciting field of mycoremediaton, the process of using fungi to restore an environment contaminated by pollutants to its previous state, I suggest this wonderful book: Mycelium Running: How Mushrooms Can Help Save the World, by fungi guru Paul Stamets.

It will be interesting to see whether mycoremediation will be employed to detoxify these newest booms. Sometime soon maybe Gulf shrimp will be replaced by Gulf mushrooms in a market near you.