Food For A Forest Homestead, Mushrooms!

Slice them up!

Mushrooms are a good vegetable for anyone eating a low carb diet. I have always loved them since my mother and I foraged for them along the creek that ran behind our house when I was a child. It was one of those good childhood memories that I treasure. In our home we ate mushrooms a lot. And I still do. Even though my husband would not touch them with a ten foot fork! More for me, I say.

I have plans in the future to grow them downstairs in my root cellar. I can buy a couple of those mushroom growing kits and see how I do. I don't eat enough to grow a lot of them. But I like them several times a week at least. They are a great food to use if you follow a low carb food plan.

Fry in a little butter.

The carbohydrate count for mushrooms vary according to types. This kind is called the button or white mushroom. I don't know it by any other name, but I see in Wikipedia, they call it and others, Agaricus bisporus. Four ounces or about 5 large mushrooms, 6 medium or 11 small, have 2.5 net carbs, 1 gram of fiber and 25 calories. Mushroom nutritional values are available here at Self Nutritional Data. You will see they are a good nutritional value food.

I like mine cooked real dark! Mmmmm!

I put a little bit of butter in the pan and fry them. They are a good side dish with any kind of meat. Another good use of them is add a little seasonings, basil or oregano, some garlic and put it your omelet, and add cheese, if desired. Oh what you can do with this little bit of fungi! Mushrooms are actually the fruiting bodies that come from the fungus, as I found on this page, What is a mushroom?

I have a friend who forages for mushrooms every year. He has promised to show me the ones in my forest that are safe to eat. I am scared to try it. They say the best way is to have someone show you. My mother said that when she was a kid their neighbors went out mushroom picking and came back and made a big pot of mushroom soup. The whole family died! That has always been in my mind. But my mother was able to pick them confidently, mainly because my grandmother KNEW so much about them and taught her kids how to identify them. Unfortunately, my mother was bedridden by the time I got interested in these kind of things. I would say to start with growing your own, or join a group of people who go out foraging together. Learn from the experts before attempting to eat wild mushrooms. Stay safe above all!

Copyright © 2010  Kathleen G. Lupole

All Photographs Copyright © 2010  Kathleen G. Lupole