In part inspired by Heston Blumenthal’s molecular gastronomy movement, over 20 years ago fine dining celebrity chef Jim Fuller turned his formidable talents to studying chemical engineering and agricultural science, and now works as a mycologist (mushroom scientist).
He’s also the chief science officer at Fable Food, a company Jim co-founded to make meat alternatives from shiitake mushrooms (and has, fittingly, since led to collaborations with Blumenthal). So, what this barbecue-lovin’ Texan don’t know about mushrooms simply ain’t worth knowing, and Verve caught up with him to find out more.
“Evolutionarily speaking, mushrooms are actually more closely related to the animal kingdom than the plant kingdom,” he says. “They’ve been miscategorised as plants for most of human history, primarily because they both have a cell wall. However, they are very different.”
While plant cell walls are built from cellulose (or lignin for woody plants), fungi cell walls are made of chitin – which is also found in the external skeletons of insects and spiders and other arthropods.
“These are all structural polysaccharides and all have similar but very different characteristics,” says Jim.
FORAGING FOR FACTS AND FUNGI
Plants and fungi do share common ancestry by way of the animal kingdom, with fungi separating to create its own kingdom around 1.5 billion years ago – nine million years after plants did so. Unlike plants, fungi did not evolve to photosynthesise meaning, like animals, they must create energy through the consumption of food, usually sourced through dead or decaying organic matter. (Though as recently as 2017, a fungus called Aspergillus tubingensis was discovered growing in a landfill in Pakistan, able to break down plastic in a matter of weeks rather than the many years it usually takes when left alone.)
The mushroom is the fruiting body of fungi, whose kingdom also contains the likes of lichen, yeast, and mould. Of the estimated five million species of fungi, around 14,000 produce mushrooms, of which more than 2,000 are edible. Of the 100 or so types of mushrooms that are toxic to humans, around 30 are potentially fatal (they’re estimated to kill around 100 people a year, and poison several thousand), so foraging for these edible treasures should be done with care.
“Foraging is easy and so enjoyable, walking through the forest, immersed in nature and away from the chaos of day to day,” says Jim. “However, skills in identifying which varieties are edible and safe to handle are learnt over time with experience.”
He advises to begin mushroom hunting to simply appreciate the colours, shapes, forms, and habitats: “Immerse yourself in the surroundings and the experience, but do not consume a mushroom unless someone with experience has vetted it. There is no shortage of resources, from your local mycological associations, books, and online guides. Once you have built up your knowledge you can then become that for someone else.”
MUSHROOMS AS MEDICINE
Mushrooms have served as medication around the world for millennia. In the East, various fungi have traditionally treated the likes of gout and asthma, while Indigenous Americans continue to use puffball mushrooms to heal wounds. Ancient Greek physician Hippocrates identified the Amadou mushroom as an anti-inflammatory around six-and-a-half-thousand years ago.
Modern studies have found potential for mushrooms to kill human cancer cells (in Japan, doctors prescribe shiitake mushroom extract to stomach cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy) and reduce insulin resistance in diabetic mice. Maitake and scaly wood mushrooms have shown promise for boosting immunity for some breast cancer patients.
“The functional polysaccharides in fungi are of so much interest, not only to me but the entire human population – they just don’t know it yet,” says Jim. “We are learning more all the time about the different functions of the endless types of functional polysaccharides that are uniquely fungal, including to skin and gut health, internal and external microbiome, immune system modulation, fat regulation, and more. The fungal part is so important especially important for immune response because our bodies recognise the fungal origin of the material and mount an immune response.”
With each type of fungi retaining unique microbial chemistry, each has its own “chemical arsenal” which, says Jim, can be potentially harvested for new classes of antibacterial, antiviral, and antifungal medicines that could be used to combat disease and possibly even ageing.
MUSHROOMS AS MEAT
A serving of mushrooms contains only around 15 calories and a staggering 15 vitamins and minerals such as vitamins D and B6, folate magnesium, zinc, and potassium. Their antioxidant compounds like ergothioneine and selenium are also anti-inflammatories, they’re high in fibre, low in carbs and cholesterol and contain close to zero fat.
The most consumed variety is the button mushroom, accounting for around 40% of the world’s farmed mushrooms, but for Jim, nothing beats the meaty shiitake.
“The slow growth of shiitake mushrooms creates a densely packed fibrous structure, ideal for replicating textures similar to those found in traditional proteins,” he says. “Most fungi have fibrous structures that could be utilised for this purpose, but the densely packed tougher shiitake fibres are easier to texturise than other soft, fluffy, brittle, or fragile structures common in the fast-growing fungi world. The glutamate concentration of shiitake is also quite high, giving them a very naturally umami flavour.”
With its rich tase and ready-made structure, Jim believes there is no better natural whole food capable of mimicking animal meat.
“When the technology advances and technical problems of structure overcome, we may end up with a printable steak that is an exact replica of the traditional meat. Until then, meaty mushrooms are the best alternative – they can be smoked, grilled, roasted and slathered in sauce and do almost all the things the traditional proteins do, including getting stuck in your teeth!”
However, there is the not-so-slight problem of mushrooms topping many a list of most disliked foods for fussier eaters. So, how would he convert those souls? By teaching them how to cook mushrooms properly in the first place.
“For the longest time, no one knew that mushrooms aren’t plants, so treating them exactly like plants in the cooking process is forgivable but not necessarily correct.”
Owing to their different cell wall structure, mushrooms react differently to plants to water and heat, and it’s their mistreatment in the kitchen that results in the “leathery, dry or rubbery unappetising colours and textures” that turns so many off.
“Boiling mushrooms is the perfect way to cook them,” advises Jim. “Boiling first improves the texture and the best potential flavour. You never have to worry about overcooking them, you can boil for hours or even days and the structure, once perfectly cooked, will remain perfectly cooked, a testament to those different polysaccharides.”
After boiling, mushrooms should be evaporated to near dryness in the pan before adding “just a dash more water to pick up all the concentrated goodness back onto their outside”.
“Finally, add a touch of oil, and your choice of aromatics – my favourites are chopped onion and crushed garlic – then sauté for that deep rich golden colour of meaty foods. Finish with some fresh herbs – thyme is especially good – and your favourite plant-based butter and a healthy pinch of salt and pepper. I can virtually guarantee that former mushroom sceptics will enjoy them once people learn how to cook mushrooms the correct way – by boiling them!”
“Foraging is easy and so enjoyable, walking through the forest, immersed in nature and away from the chaos of day to day”.
Shrooms!
There are around 80 fungi species that are known to be bioluminescent because of the compound, luciferin, and the oxidative enzyme, luciferase, which, when mixed with oxygen, trigger a chemical reaction that emits light. Magical these may be, but they’re not the magic mushrooms, favoured by countercultures and colloquially called ‘shrooms’.
More than 200 types of fungi are hallucinogenic, caused by the compound psilocybin, and are first thought to have been used as far back as 9000 BC, as depicted by North African rock paintings. Mayan and Aztec ruins have been discovered to contain mushroom-like statues, and it is from Central America that ‘shrooms’ entered Western science (and then the hippie movement).
When mycologist R Gordon Wasson visited an indigenous community in Mexico in the 1950s, he encountered magic mushroom-infused rituals and returned to the US with a sample of the fungi which was studied by his colleague, Roge Heim, alongside Albert Hofmann, the ‘father of LSD’.
For all their mind-bending properties, more recent research has found potential in magic mushrooms – or more specifically, psilocybin – for treating certain mental health illnesses. A trial by Imperial College London on patients with treatment-resistant depression found psilocybin to successfully improve participants’ mental states for up to five weeks after treatment.
