Mushrooms, toadstools, fungus. They could look alike but if you're an amateur, you should refrain from picking them within the woods. Many fragrant tasty species grow wild and add a pungent flavor to soups, stews and casseroles. White button mushrooms are grown domestically, offer less flavor and can also be found in the produce section of your local food store. However they are not veggies. They reside within the fungus family. While certain species may be cultivated commercially, others grow only in the wild. Although fat-free and low- calorie, mushrooms do offer some nutritional value and add flavor and volume to many dishes.

Even though you love their culinary value, do not run out after the next rainfall and pluck those little toadstools sprouting on the lawn for your morning omelet. Many are highly poisonous, and it takes knowledgeable pickers to differentiate. The more popular types around the globe are shitake, morel, oyster, chanterelle and cremini, which are flavorful, more costly and of-course favored over the white variety by discriminating chefs. (Frenchmen would not dream of using our bourgeois white button variety.) Many species require cooking and should never be eaten raw, for example the morel. Tasty large portobello make an ideal meat replacement and also a popular choice among vegetarians. The prized ruffle tops the list in its native France, and other countries pay through the nose to import them. (Those French. Nothing however the best for their discriminating palettes.)

While buy mushrooms Canada presumably date back to the cavemen, the earliest documented usage goes back to ancient China, where mushrooms were consumed for medicinal and additionally culinary purposes. (Long before explorer Marco Polo trekked over to China.) Always on top of the-latest food discoveries, Romans enjoyed them as a food, but since all mushrooms are not edible, those inventive emperors employed food tasters to determine which might be poisonous. (Certainly not an enviable job. You never knew which meal might be your last.) Throughout history, mushrooms are already dried and after that eaten all winter, which placed them highly sought after.

Asians in particular value mushrooms as a medicine, like the reishi, maitake and turkey tail, and they ingest them frequently for health problems, either cooked or as a tea. With more than 65% of the world's production, China tops the list, followed by Italy and Poland. At 5%, the u.s. is no slouch, cranking out 390,000 tons per year. (That's a great deal of soup.)

Among many ethnic cultures, mushrooming or foraging is a popular pastime. Not just can you find some tasty varieties, but you get fresh air and exercise at the same time. Just make sure you recognize the ones to pick as well as the ones to pass up. (And when you are in wooded areas, make sure additionally you recognize poison ivy when you see it.) Charming drawings and stories throughout history depict fairies as well as other small creatures sitting under or together with toadstools, hence the name's origin. Were they edible or simply furniture? No one knows for sure. Probably both.