Mushrooms Madness! Part One: Why Grow Mushrooms
Welcome to the Nuts & Bolts Nursery Co-op Mushroom Madness Series! This is part one of a series on mushroom biology, ecology, cultivation, experimentation, and more! In today’s episode, before we get into the nitty gritty details of how to grow mushrooms, we will explore the many reasons why we should grow mushrooms, so stay tuned!
While mushroom culture has definitely been on the rise lately, with mushroom recipes and products becoming more mainstream, many people, especially in the so-called United States, still harbor quite a bit of mycophobia (fear of fungi). Common myths about mushrooms and fungi being gross, dangerous, or outright deadly have inhibited many people from exploring the true joys and benefits of fungi. As you will soon see, this couldn’t be farther from the truth!
“Mushrooms can provide enormous health benefits to human bodies and complex ecologies”
Mushrooms can provide enormous health benefits to human bodies and complex ecologies, help weave complex and stable social networks, and be just plain fun! Let’s see how.
Before we get to the benefits, let’s dispel some of those myths about fungi.
The first myth I’d like to dispel is that fungi are gross, dirty, or otherwise unclean. In fact, mushrooms are quite clean! The interior flesh of mushrooms is completely sterile, and the outsides of fresh mushrooms are often quite free of molds and bacterias. In fact, some fungi have demonstrated the ability to actively remove harmful bacteria from wastewater![1] Many fungi also have the ability to produce antibiotic and antiviral compounds [2]. Penicillin is famously derived from a fungi!
Okay, so mushrooms are clean, but what about toxicity? Aren’t mushrooms poisonous?
Just as with plants, there are some mushrooms that will make you sick, and some that will outright kill you. But the fact that poisonous berries exist doesn’t stop us from picking the refreshing, juicy blueberries straight off the bush down by the lake on a hot summer day, and it certainly doesn’t stop us from picking up a box of raspberries at the supermarket. Only 1-2% of mushrooms are poisonous [3], while 90% of white berries are poisonous [20], and many common ornamental plants are toxic or deadly as well [21]. So we can comfortably say that mushrooms are not more likely to make you sick than plants, it’s just that most of us are more familiar with what plants are safe to eat. What’s important is knowing what you are eating, and that knowledge and familiarity comes with experience and intention. Familiarizing yourself with edible and medicinal mushrooms through deliberate cultivation will help you to recognize them when you see them out in the wild. Another great reason to grow them!
Alright, with that out of the way, let’s explore some of the incredible benefits- of which there are many!- of fungi and mushrooms.
“From a nutritional perspective, mushrooms are an absolute powerhouse!”
From a nutritional perspective, mushrooms are an absolute powerhouse. Many mushrooms are rich in vitamins B and D (especially if grown outdoors!), as well as essential minerals like phosphorus, selenium, and potassium [4]. Mushrooms contain complex carbohydrates (polysaccarides) that feed beneficial gut bacteria and promote gastrointestinal health [5, 6]. Fungi are high in protein and contain all nine essential amino acids. Furthermore, their amino acid profile, being closer to that of animals (like us!) than plants, can help to balance out deficiencies in amino acids like lysine that often come with a plant-based diet [7-9].
But wait- there’s more!
Many types of mushrooms have incredible medicinal value as well! Potent anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory activity has been documented in many mushroom species [10], and with the epidemic rise of inflammatory disease in industrial society, this is absolutely critical for modern health. As stated above, many mushrooms have also been shown to produce antibiotic and antiviral compounds, some of which have even demonstrated efficacy against diseases like influenza and HIV![11] Certain mushroom species have been shown to provide neruo-protective benefits [12] improved cognitive function [13], treatment for PTSD and depression [14], cancer treatment [15], and so much more! [16]
“Many mushrooms have been shown to produce antibiotic and antiviral compounds, some of which have even demonstrated efficacy against diseases like influenza and HIV!”
Mushrooms not only improve the health of our bodies, but of the ecosystems we co-create as well. As we discussed in our blog post on wood chips, fungi are decomposers, breaking down dead and dying plant material and converting the nutrients into forms that living plants can use. This decomposition ability allows some mushrooms to even decompose things like petroleum, cleaning up oil spills in a process known as mycoremediation [17]. Other fungi are able to remediate soils of heavy metals, locking them up in forms that are non-bioavailable in a process called chelation [18]. Many plants are also dependent on special species of fungi called mycorrhizea. These special fungi form intimate relationships with the plants, connecting directly to their roots and shuttling nutrients, information, and medical compounds into the plant in exchange for the sugars that the plant produces through photosynthesis [19]. Mushrooms are also important food sources for many other animals.
Some mushrooms can clean up oil spills and remediate heavy metal contamination from soils
Beyond the physical benefits of mushrooms, there are emotional/spritiual benefits as well. Fungi have very unique growth habits that can be fascinating and spark curiosity. This uniqueness and novelty makes growing mushrooms just plain fun! And we could all use a little more fun in our lives. Some fungi even have the ability to directly trigger strong emotional and spiritual experiences that can be very enriching indeed.
Whew- That was a lot of information! Let’s recap what we’ve learned and then take a look ahead.
Fungi are:
clean and no more dangerous than plants, despite the myths you may have heard.
rich in vitamins and minerals, as well as gut-healthy polysaccharides and complete proteins
full of medicinal compounds that help with everything from inflammation to cognition to viral disease to emotional well-being
able to remediate pollution
important members of a functioning ecology
FUN!!!
Hopefully this essay has convinced you as to why you should want to grow mushrooms. In next week’s episode, we’ll dive deeper into the fungal life cycle and ecology before launching head-first into some easy cultivation techniques so that you too can grow mushrooms and enjoy the many benefits of fungi!
See you next week!
References
Taylor, A., Flatt, A., Beutel, M., Wolff, M., Brownson, K., & Stamets, P. (2015). Removal of Escherichia coli from synthetic stormwater using mycofiltration. Ecological Engineering, 78, 79-86. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoleng.2014.05.016
Ranadive, Kiran R., et al. "Glimpses of antimicrobial activity of fungi from World." Journal on New Biological Reports 2.2 (2013): 142-162.
Berries vs mushrooms
https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/food-features/mushrooms/
Nowak R, Nowacka-Jechalke N, Juda M, Malm A. The preliminary study of prebiotic potential of Polish wild mushroom polysaccharides: the stimulation effect on Lactobacillus strains growth. European journal of nutrition. 2018 Jun 1;57(4):1511-21.
Chou WT, Sheih IC, Fang TJ. The applications of polysaccharides from various mushroom wastes as prebiotics in different systems. Journal of food science. 2013 Jul;78(7):M1041-8.
Oyetayo FL, Akindahunsi AA, Oyetayo VO. Chemical profile and amino acids composition of edible mushrooms Pleurotus sajor-caju. Nutr Health. 2007;18(4):383-9. doi: 10.1177/026010600701800407. PMID: 18087869.
Bano, Zakia, K. S. Srinivasan, and H. C. Srivastava. "Amino acid composition of the protein from a mushroom (Pleurotus sp.)." Applied Microbiology 11.3 (1963): 184-187.
Murcia, M. Antonia, et al. "Antioxidant activity of edible fungi (truffles and mushrooms): losses during industrial processing." Journal of food protection 65.10 (2002): 1614-1622.
Hobbs, Christopher. “Medicinal Value of Turkey Tail Fungus Trametes Versicolor (L.:Fr.) Pilat (Aphyllophoromycetideae). A Literature Review.” International Journal of Medicinal Mushrooms, vol. 6, no. 3, 2004, pp. 195–218., doi:10.1615/intjmedmushr.v6.i3.10.
Mori, Koichiro, et al. "Nerve growth factor-inducing activity of Hericium erinaceus in 1321N1 human astrocytoma cells." Biological and Pharmaceutical Bulletin 31.9 (2008): 1727-1732.
Saitsu, Yuusuke, et al. "Improvement of cognitive functions by oral intake of Hericium erinaceus." Biomedical Research 40.4 (2019): 125-131.
R. L. Carhart-Harris, R. Leech, T. M. Williams, D. Erritzoe, N. Abbasi, T. Bargiotas, P. Hobden, D. J. Sharp, J. Evans, A. Feilding, R. G. Wise and D. J. Nutt. “Implications for psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy: functional magnetic resonance imaging study with psilocybin.” The British Journal of Psychiatry (2012) 200, 238–244. doi: 10.1192/bjp.bp.111.103309
Torkelson, Carolyn J., et al. “Phase 1 Clinical Trial of Trametes Versicolor in Women with Breast Cancer.” ISRN Oncology, vol. 2012, 30 May 2012, pp. 1–7., doi:10.5402/2012/251632.
Hobbs, Christopher. Medicinal Mushrooms. Book Pub., 2003.
Cotter, Tradd. Organic Mushroom Farming and Mycoremediation. Chelsea Green Publishing Co, 2014.
Liu, Shao-Heng, et al. "Bioremediation mechanisms of combined pollution of PAHs and heavy metals by bacteria and fungi: A mini review." Bioresource technology 224 (2017): 25-33.
Simard, S. (2021). Finding the mother tree: Discovering the wisdom of the forest.
https://gwinnettmastergardeners.com/2008/08/poisonous-plants-and-mushrooms-in-the-landscape.html
