They’re back! Those cultivated Asian mushrooms that made headlines back in 2014 but disappeared after Severe Tropical Cyclone Winston are gradually making a return. If you missed their launch and importance to a healthier diet, you really need to learn more. Asian varieties of mushrooms are not grown in soil like their common button mushroom cousin, but in plastic jars or on logs of wood. They are one of the most medicinal food gifts on the planet and something the Chinese have known for thousands of years. Whilst they have been difficult to find since Winston, mushroom farmers in Suva and Legalega are now having success in harvesting these culinary delights again. They are not cheap, about $30 per kilogram, but are lightweight and you don’t need plenty to get a decent meal out of them. Finding them is the hardest as they rarely make it to the markets as chefs, restaurants, mushroom connoisseurs and overseas importers scoop them up even before they are harvested. So what’s so special about these Asian mushrooms?
Medicinal shrooms
Up until recently, the only mushrooms you would get in a Fiji came from a tin, rehydrated from a packet or imported from a farm somewhere in Australia or New Zealand. The common button mushroom needs a colder, damp climate and costs upwards of $80-90 per kilo, but Asian mushroom varieties such as oyster, enoki and shiitake, can be grown in plastic jars or containers filled with grass or other fibrous substrates — no soil needed.
Asian mushrooms are especially good for our health; a fact steeped in Chinese traditional medicine. They have anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, antiviral, and immune-enhancing properties, in similar ways to virgin coconut oil, but ‘shrooms are definitely tastier.
Different mushrroms, different medicine
Two farms, the Chinese Legalega Research Station in Legalega, Nadi, and the local family-run Bula Mushrooms in Suva of Vinit and his wife Chaya, have successfully cultivated several varieties of the potent Asian mushrooms; and they are divine. STC Winston knocked these two facilities out for a while but they have both announced on social media that their first harvests have come — and gone. Each fungi variety has different medicinal properties, as if Mother Nature intended them as a pharmacy of health remedies. They are meaty and flavourful, and also contain a substance called eritadenine, which encourages the absorption of cholesterol, thereby lowering the amount circulating in the blood.
Along with the B-vitamins and minerals that all mushrooms contain, the shiitake contains all eight amino acids, unusual for a plant. Shiitake have a distinct strong flavor, which if you find too strong, can be tempered with soy, mirin and sugar marinade before cooking.
With a name sounding very similar to a Fijian male, Inoke, enoki mushrooms are quite different from shiitake mushrooms in appearance and flavor. These long, white mushrooms have a very mild flavor and are believed to be good for fighting the effects of cancer treatments like chemotherapy, and are said to be especially effective for those fighting prostate cancer and lymphoma.
They are also apparently good for enhancing the immune system by detoxifying the body. On top of all these benefits, enoki mushrooms are also a great source of iron and when not overcooked, look fantastic on the dinner plate as a tiny fungi forest.
King of the mushrooms
Of all the Asian mushrooms commonly eaten, oyster mushrooms stand out as exceptional allies for improving human and an ideal alternative to meat. These mushrooms enjoy a terrific reputation as the easiest to cultivate, richly nutritious and medicinally supportive. Their name comes from their look not taste, and also come in different shapes and sizes.
Not only are they low in calories, fat-free, cholesterol-free, gluten-free, and very low in sodium. They are also high in protein, fibre and iron, and contain significant levels of zinc, potassium, selenium, calcium, phosphorus, folic acid, and vitamins B1, B3, B5 and B12, plus vitamin C and vitamin D. They need very little cooking time and can be added to stir fry, grilled for salads or thrown into a curry at the very last moment. These “magic mushrooms” are not for partying, they are a medicinal gift from mother nature.
The Juncao Project
The introduction of cultivated mushrooms in the Fijian diet started in 2014 when Chinese company Juncao Mushroom Technology invested $14 million for the cultivation of edible Asian mushrooms in Fiji. With the support of Fiji’s Ministry of Agriculture, the Legalega Research Station was established and today grows, sells and teaches farmers how to grow varieties of cultivated Asian mushrooms.
“It is better to teach a man how to fish, than to give a man a fish,” said Professor Lin Zhanxi of the Juncao project, quoting a famous Chinese proverb. Dr Lin is the inventor of the technology that is helping poorer rural regions in 17 developing countries including PNG, South Africa and Fiji, to help feed their people with a healthy and nutritious food that is easy to grow. What is incredible about this humanitarian’s story is his motivation to share this technology outside of China. Dr Lin and his team have been developing ways to utilise the special Chinese grass needed to grow the mushrooms. In 1971, Dr Lin was the first person to suggest the idea of cultivating edible fungi in chopped-up wild grass instead of using woodchips, which would have destroyed valuable timber. By the end of 1986, Dr Lin saw the first Juncao mushroom sprout from a bottle filled with a chopped wild fern in his laboratory and today the Legalega facility has grown to supply both the local and overseas markets.
Ultimate natural flavour enhancer
Chefs love mushrooms. They are beautiful to the eye, and easily adapt to a wide range of cuisines, but, most important, mushrooms behave in the kitchen much the same way that meats do. They change their character in response to different cooking techniques and they express different qualities depending on the ingredients with which they are paired. There is sound science behind these effects. Mushrooms are not vegetables. They are fungi and their biochemical structure has more in common with animals in some ways than with vegetables.
Mushrooms have a broad range of amino acids, as animal proteins do, and this provides them with savoury flavour. They are high in glutamic acid, an amino acid that is naturally occurring in glutamates and acts as a flavour enhancer.
Mushrooms are also rich in nucleotides, compounds that are synergistic with glutamates. Together, these characteristics make up umami, the savoury flavour component that is now widely accepted as the fifth taste sensor along with salty, bitter, sweet, and sour.
The reintroduction of cultivated mushrooms to Fiji after the cyclone not only gives the chefs another local ingredient to add to our menus and reduce import bills, but has given Fijians a tasty weapon in the fight against non-communicable diseases. You won’t always find these magic mushrooms at shops or markets so make contact with the farmers directly on Facebook and put your name down for the next harvest. If you miss out, you can replace today’s recipes with tinned or rehydrated mushrooms, but nothing beats the taste, texture and medicinal value of fresh Asian mushrooms. So get in quick!
