Mushrooms, toadstools, fungus. They can look alike but when you are an amateur, you should refrain from picking them in 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 as well as can be found within 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.

Although you love their culinary value, don't 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 wouldn't 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 as well as 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 but the best for their discriminating palettes.)

While order mushrooms online presumably date back to the cavemen, the earliest documented usage goes back to ancient China, where mushrooms were consumed for medicinal and 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 ascertain which might be poisonous. (Certainly not an enviable job. You never knew which meal may 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 concerns, 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 annually. (That's a lot of soup.)

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