Mushrooms

Cookpad Kenya is currently holding a online contest with the theme mushroom from 15th to 30th September.

Guidelines for the contest

1.Please post any home cooked mushroom recipe on cookpad.com/ke

2.If you post your recipe on the mobile app please add #Mushroom in the story column.

3. The recipe contest will run from the 15th to 29th September. Winners will be announced on the 30th September.

Amazing cookpad apparels to be won by participants.

Here is a few insights into mushroom we thought you should keep know!!

A mushroom also known as toadstool is the fleshy, spore-bearing fruiting body of a fungus; it is produced above ground on soil. The most common types of mushrooms in Kenya are white button mushroom and Oyster. The mushroom is made up of three parts namely a stem or stipe, a cap (also known as pileus), and gills on the underside of the cap. Gills are responsible in producing microscopic spores which help the fungus spread across the occupant surface. Mushrooms are low in calories, fat-free, cholesterol-free, gluten-free, and very low in sodium, yet they provide important nutrients, including selenium, potassium (8%), riboflavin, niacin, vitamin D

Did you know?

• Mushrooms are comprised of 85–95 % water.
• Mushrooms have their own immune system.
• Mushrooms are more closely related in DNA to humans than to plants.
• Like human skin, mushrooms can produce vitamin D by being exposed to sunlight. In fact, exposing a freshly cut shiitake mushroom, gills up, to the sun for eight hours can increase its vitamin D content by as much as 4,600 times!
• Psathyrella aquatica is a gilled mushroom that lives completely under water.
• There are more amino acids in mushrooms than in corn, peanuts, or soybeans.
• Mycelium can use toxic substances such as oil and e coli bacteria as a food source.
• Fungi use antibiotics to fend off other microorganisms that compete with them for food.
• The antibiotic penicillin was derived from the fungal species Penicillium.

Note : Market gap -Kenya produces 500 tons of mushroom per annum 476 tons being button mushroom but the consumption is 1200 tons per annum both for hotels.