MuhsRoom; a FunGi

Have you ever think about mushrooms while having it on your dinner table? Did you think what these mushrooms are? Do you consider it as a vegetable? No….! Then, what mushrooms are?

Let’s take a brief review about the mushrooms.

The word mushroom is taken from the combination of two words fungi & molds. Mushrooms are neither a plant nor an animal. Rather, it is a FunGi. Fungi are one of the most important living organism on earth. Its presence on earth is as old as human history is. Like plant, they do not have chlorophyll which is why they cannot perform Photosynthesis. Due to the absence of photosynthesis, there is no food production. Rather they need to have some sort of nutrients which are utilized as food. Fungi are the organisms that create both symbiotic (beneficial) and parasitic (harmful) relationship with plants/animals. Fungi have diversified shapes and functions. So it would not be wrong to say that all mushrooms are fungi but not all fungi are mushrooms. Mushrooms are completely different yet amazing creature on the planet.

The discovery of mushrooms were initiated in 1650s when a melon farmer observed that mushrooms are growing on his fertilizer area. This discovery was then followed by the controlled production of fungi in 1700s from where a new story begins. In 1930s, a full-fledged scientific research was held on mushroom in Netherland.

Till now, over 10,000 mushrooms species have been discovered, from which only 4% are edible including various strains of oyster, Button, shitake, milky etc. whereas nearly 149 are used for medicinal purpose including cordyceps, Ganoderma etc.

The interesting fact about mushroom is that like human beings they produce Vitamin D when exposed to sun. Moreover mushrooms are incredible food source in a way that it has zero calories. Mushrooms are considered as a replacement of meat because it is also full of protein. There are numerous other benefits of mushrooms that make it another Super Food after moringa.