Edible mushrooms were once considered luxury foods but can now be regularly consumed as part of a healthy diet or used as functional foods or supplements to enhance health. Mushrooms have several distinct parts including the cap, gills, stem, and mycelium. Some common edible mushrooms are button, oyster, shiitake, portobello, wood ear, chanterelle, and truffles. Medicinal mushrooms contain extracts that can supplement the diet to promote health and fitness when consumed as part of a nutraceutical.

8.  Edible mushrooms once called the “food of
the gods” and still treated as a garnish or
delicacy can be taken regularly as part of the
human diet or be treated as healthy food or
as functional food. The extractable products
from medicinal mushrooms, designed to
supplement the human diet not as regular
food, but as the enhancement of health and
fitness, can be classified into the category of
dietary supplements/mushroom
nutriceuticals

9.  i) Cap (pileus)- Colour
(white, grey, yellow) and
shape (umbrella, kidney,
cap) depend on species
 ii) Stype (stem)- Stype is
stem like structure that
supports the pileus and
transports nutrients from
the substrate to other
parts of mushroom.
 iii) Gills -tissues that
produce spores.
 iv) Mycelia- absorbs
nutrients from substrate

12. S.N
o
Type Scientific Name
1 Button Mushroom Agaricus bisporus
2 Moral Mushroom Morchella esculenta
3 Wild Mushroom
4 Oyster Mushroom Pleaurotus ostreatus
5 Porcini Mushrooms
6 Shitake Mushroom Lentinula edodes
7 Portobello Mushrooms
8 Ear Mushroom Auricularia auricula
9 Ganoderma Ganoderma lucidum
10. Paddy Straw/Chinese Vulvariella volvaceae
11. Truffles Tuber melanosporum

14.  The most common type,
white mushrooms range in
size from tiny—called
button, which are harvested
when young and have the
mildestflavour—to jumbo,
which can be stuffed and
baked. Creamy white to
pale tan,they have a firm
texture and a delicate
flavour. White mushrooms
are grown all overthe world.

23.  The name porcini means
“piglets” in Italian. They’re also
known as the king bolete, cèpe
(in French), Steinpilz (the “stone
mushroom” inGerman), and a
host of other names from all
overthe world. The Latin name is
Boletus edulis. Porcini
mushrooms may grow a rather
large cap, up to 12 inches in
diameter. It’s usually brown or
reddish-brown with a slightly
sticky texture. The underside
ofthe cap is made up of a
spongy material with tiny tubes
from which spores are released.
They are grown throughoutthe
northern hemisphere, but are
particularly associated with Italy

25.  Also known as brown
cap mushrooms,
chestnut mushrooms
have a strong taste and
look like a darker
version ofthe button
mushroom. They have
pink to dark brown
gills. They are grown
all overthe world.

27.  Up to 6 inches across,
portobellos have a big,
steak-like taste and
texture. In fact,the huge,
umbrella-like caps are
often eaten as vegetarian
burger substitutes.
Remove the woody stems
before eating. The
portabello mushroom
originated from Italy and
gets its namesake from
Portobello, a municipality
in Italy.

28.  Wood Ear mushrooms, so named
because they resemble ears growing
out oftrees. Fresh Wood Ear
mushrooms are thick and smooth-
skinned,though wrinkly. The
mushroom’s skin resembles the
colour ofthe tree bark itlives on,
butitturns darker becoming nearly
black the older it gets. Its texture is
rubbery and jelly –like and it smells
very earthy. It doesn’t have much of
its own flavour, but when cooked it
absorbs flavour and take on a
crunchy texture. Itis widespread
throughouttemperate and sub-
tropical zones worldwide, and can be
found across Europe, North America,
Asia, Australia, South America and
Africa.

31.  The French black or
Périgord truffle, Tuber
melanosporum, is prized
for its aromatic and fruity
qualities. When fresh, it
has a brown-black
exterior with white veins
on the inside. It ranges in
size from a pea to an
orange, and weighs up to
2.2 pounds (1 kg). These
truffles are found in the
Périgord region of
southwestern France

35.  Chanterelles range in colour
from yellow, orange, and
brown to pale white or black.
They are prized for having a
fruity smell. The funnel-
shaped caps have wrinkles
instead of gills on the
underside, which should be
washed quickly but carefully
before using. The chanterelle
mushroom grows commonly
in northern parts of Europe
and North America and
Mexico. They also grow in
the Himalayas and Africa.

49.  Heating a poisonous mushroom and stirring
it with a silver spoon will turn the spoon
black. Some believe that the toxins will
blacken silver when heated. This myth has
been around for a long time with no basis in
fact. To date no toxins are known to have this
reaction with silver.

50. 1. Warts or scales on the
cap
 Note the off colored
"patches" on the top of
the picture to the right.
These are the remnants
of the universal veil that
surrounds the mushroom
when it is young.
Sometimes these patches
look more like rows of
raised dots, as seen on
the pictures further
down.

51. The presence of a bulbous
cup or sac around the base
 This rounded cup is called
the "volva" and is another
remnant of the universal veil.
It is often under the ground
so you may have to gently
dig up the mushroom to see
it. The Amanita muscaria
(commonly known as a
"toadstool") to the left is a
great example of this
bulbous base. - See more at:
http://www.mushroom-
appreciation.com/identify-
poisonous-
mushrooms.html#sthash.fecx
qcls.dpuf

52. The presence of a ring
around the stem.
 This ring, called the
"annulus", is where the
partial veil was attached to
the stem before it tore
apart as the mushroom
grew. Check out the white
mushroom to the right, you
can see this ring quite
clearly. - See more at:
http://www.mushroom-
appreciation.com/identify-
poisonous-
mushrooms.html#sthash.fe
cxqcls.dpuf