Nutritional Value

Although mushrooms have been eaten since time immemorial – they are mentioned in ancient writings 4–5 hundred years before our era – even today opinions about their nutritional value differ. Some speak up for the original taste and aroma of mushrooms and compare them with fish and meat dishes, while others regard them with caution – as a low-value food product.

French chefs claim that the aromatic substances of mushrooms and their sauces are without equal: they stimulate the secretion of gastric juices, increase appetite and improve the digestion of other foods. Is that not an advantage? Many cooks, some experts and specialists in the nutritional value of mushrooms, and especially many mushroom gourmets, are probably not mistaken in believing that mushrooms are a valuable food product. This is also confirmed by research in scientific laboratories, including Lithuanian ones.

As with every food product, the value of mushrooms depends not only on their chemical composition, but also on the ratio of beneficial elements (amino acids, especially the essential ones, which the human body obtains only from food, etc.).

This is determined by the mushroom's habitat, climatic conditions and the season. In this respect some mushroom species are not inferior to, or even surpass, the most valuable vegetables, some fruits and other food products.

Mushrooms contain no fewer mineral substances than vegetables or fruits, and in their content of phosphorus, potassium and calcium they are equal to fish. Only fats and carbohydrates are scarce in mushrooms.

Mushrooms contain iron, manganese, cobalt, copper and zinc, which are much needed by the human body, especially in autumn and winter. They contain all the amino acids the human body needs.

It is enough to eat 60 g of dry (dried) mushrooms, not necessarily just ceps, and our body already receives its daily requirement of mineral substances and amino acids.

Mushrooms are rich in protein: proteins make up the main part of the dry matter (about 80 percent), while the aromatic substances, of which there are more than 40 (according to some data, as many as 52), give them a specific, indescribably pleasant aroma unlike that of other foods.

Mushrooms contain many vitamins (B1, B2, PP, C, A, D, U), enzymes and organic acids. Dried ceps contain more protein than bread, groats or beef. Of particular importance is the amino acid lecithin, which prevents harmful cholesterol from accumulating in the human body.

Young mushrooms are more nutritious, and the cap is more valuable than the stem. In many mushrooms the stem is woody, contains a lot of chitin and is not eaten at all.

Mushroom dishes are not recommended for people suffering from chronic diseases of the stomach, liver, intestines or kidneys, nor for elderly, sedentary people or for children.

Mushrooms, like cepelinai, are a tasty, tempting but hard-to-digest food, so one should not eat too much of them. In addition, heavy metals, especially lead, and radionuclides – radium, caesium, strontium – reduce the value of some mushrooms and oblige us to be careful. But the value of mushrooms is reduced most of all by indigestible chitin (fungin), which makes up from 3 to 6 percent of the walls of fungal hyphae. Mushrooms also contain a lot of water – 84–95 percent.

About 400 species of edible mushrooms grow in Lithuania, but only about 100–120 species are worth eating; the others are of little value – their fruiting bodies are very small, they are rarely found or grow in small quantities.

Learning to recognise edible mushrooms is possible only by spending time with experienced mushroom experts, reading books and atlases and visiting mushroom exhibitions. Lithuanian forests are rich in mushrooms, so one should not limit oneself to just a few or a dozen or so species.