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Drug Shrooms

When your taste buds are crying out "Steak!" but your love handles are saying "Vegetables, please!" leave it to MEN'S FITNESS to come up with the ideal alternative: mushrooms. Possessing meaty flavor and hearty texture, these fungal wonders--that's right, we're telling you to eat fungus--contain a mere 18 calories and zero grams of fat per cup.

Mushrooms are no nutritional lightweights, either. Consider:

* One portobello, for example, delivers more potassium than a banana. Potassium helps maintain normal heart rhythm, fluid balance, and muscle and nerve function. It can also keep your ticker ticking and your brain thinking: The U.S. Food and Drug Administration notes that foods high in potassium and low in sodium may reduce the risk of high blood pressure and stroke.

* Mushrooms also pack a lot of selenium, which partners with vitamin E to produce antioxidants that neutralize the cell-damaging free radicals that can increase the risk of cancer and other diseases. For example, one study, published in the British Journal of Urology, found that men who eat plenty of selenium-rich foods can reduce their risk of prostate cancer.

* According to Solomon P. Wasser, Ph.D., editor in chief of the International Journal of Medicinal Mushrooms, compounds in various mushrooms have been found to enhance the overall function of the immune system, fight cancer, and act as nature's analgesic with their anti-inflammatory powers.

While mushroom's health benefits may surprise you, health-care practitioners have actually used them for centuries to treat diseases. In fact, there was once so much faith in the benefits of certain mushrooms, this lowly fungus assumed godlike status. In China, the Reishi goddess was named after the reishi mushroom, worshipped for--no surprise--bringing health, life and eternal youth. Today the study of medicinal mushrooms continues, albeit absent the deities.

Fortunately, there's a mushroom for almost any dish and most any palate. Unfortunately, some methods of preparation can be a lot worse for you than others. For instance, mushrooms seem to have a special affinity for butter. If you choose to saute them in this fashion, limit yourself to two teaspoons (8g fat, 5g sat. fat) and be sure to use tub butter instead of the trans-fat-loaded stick butter or margarine.

BUTTON

Flavor: The humble button, or white, mushroom may be unpopular among top chefs (especially snooty Frenchmen), "but button mushrooms do have their redeeming qualities," says Amy Farges, author of The Mushroom Lover's Mushroom Cookbook and Primer. "They're juicy and tasty, and they're inexpensive, with a flavor that's only mildly mushroomy."

Prep: You can skewer and grill them and serve over chicken or steak. You can also mix white mushrooms with the more expensive mushrooms presented here to "extend" them.

Price: $1.29 for eight ounces.

PORTOBELLO

Flavor: The large caps are firm, and their texture, when cooked, is meaty yet buttery soft. The taste is reminiscent of beef hot off the grill.

Prep: You can use portobellos in place of meat; put one on a bun like you would a burger. Brush olive oil on both sides of the cap, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and place chopped garlic inside. Roast or grill with the gill side up, then flip after 10 to 15 minutes and cook through.

Price: $5 per pound.

OYSTER

Flavor: A mild seafood taste, hence the name.

Prep: Their texture hold ups during lengthy cooking times, so try them in stews. Farges says oyster mushrooms are also great as a quick saute. No matter what dish you add them to, they taste better with a little butter than they do coated with olive oil (notice the words a little.)

Price: $6 per pound.

SHIITAKE

Flavor: Earthy and piney, with a low water content so the flavor is concentrated.

Prep: Shiitakes go with everything, from seafood to vegetables to red meat. Try roasting them in a spray-coated roasting pan for about 20 minutes at 400 degrees. Toss on a little salt after roasting and add to pasta, polenta, pizza and omelets.

Price: $8 per pound.

ENOKI

Flavor: Mild, with an appealing crunchy texture and vaguely fruity taste. They don't have the same earthy flavor of other mushrooms.

Prep: Try them raw as crudites (that's French for "no cooking required") with lemon and sea salt. You can also use them to add crunch to soups or stir-fries.

Price: $3.50 for a three-ounce package.

CHANTERELLE

Flavor: "Chanterelles have kind of an apricot nuance Farges. They have a medium texture that roasts or sautes well.

Prep: Saute them in olive oil (no more than two teaspoons) with garlic and onions, and serve with sweet meats such as pork loin or ham. Chanterelles also go well in a stuffing with pecans and apricots.

Price: $14 per pound.

PORCINI

Flavor: Rich and woodsy. Go well with all sorts of foods.

Prep: Roast the big caps the same way as a portobello, or dice and cook with potatoes and onions. They're also great raw in salads.

Price: $25 per pound.

MOREL

Flavor: "Morels have a deep, decaying-leaves flavor," says Farges. (It's better than it sounds.) "They taste like the ground they come out of. It's a nice, clean, undistracted flavor."

Prep: You must cook morels, as they can be toxic when raw. Morels have little crevices that seem just made for trapping cream, so they pair up well with (nonfat) cream sauces. Like oyster mushrooms, morels taste better in a small amount of butter than in olive oil, but again, don't overdo it.

Price: $30 per pound during the first weeks of spring, then as low as $12 per pound.

BLACK TRUFFLES

Flavor: Sweet, pungent and musky, occasionally with chocolate undertones.

Prep: Truffles can be shaved and put into a sauce, under the skin of roasting chicken, or into a plate of eggs. The flavor is strong, so you don't need very much of these pricey beauties. For example, try storing uncracked eggs with truffles for a few days, then scramble the eggs. The potent taste of the truffles actually permeates the egg shells.

Price: $40 per ounce.

MUSHROOM PREP

Don't peel off the thin outer layer during preparation; much of the mushroom's flavor lies in its skin. You can easily brush off residue found on cultivated mushrooms, which grow in special mixtures of sawdust and secret ingredients, but wild mushrooms--which grow in soil--need a more thorough cleaning. Use a soft toothbrush or damp paper towel to clean the caps. Do not soak mushrooms, as they will absorb water like a sponge and ruin their taste.

MUSHROOM MYTHS AND FACTS

* Fact: Mushrooms grow from spores, not seeds, and a mature mushroom will drop as many as 16 billion spores (we counted).

* Myth: Pigs are used to dig up truffles. Pigs used to be used to dig up truffles, but they favor the flavor as much as humans do and would literally eat away at the profit margin. These days, specially trained dogs--usually dachshunds--do the dirty work.

* Fact: Mushrooms can make you high. '"Shrooms" is the common name for mushrooms that contain psilocybin, which is chemically related to LSD. Users report feelings of mild euphoria, tingling physical sensations, and increased sensitivity to visual sensations and music (usually Phish). As you might expect, possession of fresh or dried 'shrooms is illegal in the U.S.

* Myth: All mushrooms are good for you. Sure, except for the ones that kill you. In 2001, members of the American Association of Poison Control Centers fielded 8,483 calls about harmful mushroom exposures, and 38 of them were from people who experienced life-threatening effects.

You can avoid making it onto this list by heeding advice your pappy offered when you were 4: Don't pick up strange things and put them in your mouth. If you insist on cutting out the middleman and finding your own fungi, search with a guide or a mushroom club. "Many states or wooded regions have mycological clubs, and they are well prepared to identify mushrooms," says Amy Farges, author of The Mushroom Lover's Mushroom Cookbook and Primer.

Fact: What costs $150 per ounce and will not land you in jail? White truffles. The rarest mushroom, they're so coveted that truffle hunters jealously guard their favorite truffling spots.

COPYRIGHT 2003 Weider Publications
COPYRIGHT 2003 Gale Group