Page 17 - Cornwall Issue 6 2024

NATURE

Stay away from the
Death Cap mushroom,
left, and the Copper
Trumpet, below

As fungi, mushrooms are biologically different
from any other food group and have a unique

nutrient profile. They make delicious additions
to meals, add magic to the garden and have
good healing properties.

ince their first controlled cultivation in
1707, many varieties - ranging from edible *Shiitake
to poisonous to medicinal – have emerged mushrooms are
around the world. Here are some of the most an edible favourite
Simportant fungi families: with health benefits.
They start out with dark
*Starting with edible varieties, there are many to choose brown to black caps, which
from to add flavour to food. The White Button mushroom become lighter brown and more
is the one most commonly grown around the world. It convex with age. The undersides have white gills that do
has a cap spanning 3-16 cm and a stem of 2-8 cm long. not attach to the stem, which is smooth, fibrous, light
Although white in colour, it often has brownish bruising; brown and with no ring. It has many medicinal properties
such as supporting the immune system and assisting
*The Oyster mushroom is another popular edible variety. with heart health.
It has decurrent gills which are attached to, and run
directly down the stem. They are white to light brown AVOID THESE POISONOUS MUSHROOMS
in colour and often grow in a shelf-like formation with Stay away from the Death Cap mushroom which occurs
overlapping clusters; throughout South Africa. Ingesting it is dangerous and
it accounts for 90% of all fatal mushroom poisonings,
*Porcini mushrooms are a well-known addition to Italian with its toxins attacking the liver and kidneys. Look out
dishes due to their strong, nutty flavour. As they mature, for a pale yellow to light olive coloured cap, which grows
the cap can grow up to 30cm in diameter and then from 5 to 15 cm in diameter. The gills and spore print
flatten out. Its reddish-brown colour darkens with age are white.
and fades to white along the cap margin. The stem is
club-shaped or bulging in the middle; The Copper Trumpet, commonly known as the Jack-o-
Lantern mushroom, is orange to yellow in colour and
*Field mushrooms are also tasty, with a white cap and very poisonous. Although enchanting with its large,
sometimes fine scales. The stem grows 3-10 cm tall, is funnel shape and gills that glow in the dark, this
white and bears a single, thin ring. Be careful if it begins mushroom is filled with a compound called luciferin.
to show signs of yellow bruising, as this can cause it to Rather just observe its beauty and don’t have it for
become toxic and inedible; lunch!
*The soft, corky and flat Reishi mushrooms are one of The False Parasol mushroom has a convex cap at full
the oldest known medicinal varieties. The cap looks like maturity, and grows from 5 to 40cm in diameter. The
it has been red-varnished and it features an underside gills are white when young and turn green with age. If
of white pores containing fine brown spores. They grow bruised, the mushroom turns a dingy red colour. It is
at the base of stumps of deciduous trees, have herbal highly poisonous and causes severe gastro-intestinal
healing powers and are easy to grow; symptoms of vomiting and diarrhoea.
Kyalami Estates • CONNECT • Issue 2 • 2024 15
Cornwall View • Issue 6 2024