2 sickened after meal with wild mushrooms

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NEWTON - A Newton woman picking mushrooms for a home-cooked meal accidentally chose a dangerous kind that left her and her adult son in intensive care, authorities said yesterday.

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The woman and her son, whom Newton officials would not identify, were in good condition at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center yesterday, five days after eating what some officials suspect was a variety of Amanita phalloides mushroom, also called the death cap.

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The poisonous mushrooms were apparently picked and eaten last Thursday in an Oak Hill neighborhood near the woman’s home, said Newton Health Commissioner David Naparstek.

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City officials made the case public at Mayor David Cohen’s weekly press conference in order to warn the public about the dangers of eating wild mushrooms, which, if poisonous, can cause liver and kidney damage and occasionally death.

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The wet cool summer and fall has made for a particularly abundant crop of wild mushrooms across the state, Naparstek said.

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“The message we want to send is that the mushrooms in your backyard can be very pretty, but also very deadly,’’ he said. “Don’t eat them.’’

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The woman was Ukrainian by origin, and may have had experience picking wild mushrooms, said Newton officials.
Mushroom foraging is a popular hobby in Eastern Europe, where families pass down mushroom hunting lore from parent to child, said Russ Cohen, a member of the Boston Mycological Club and author of “Wild Plants I Have Known . . . and Eaten.’’

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Amanita is “very, very nasty’’ and among the most poisonous of local mushrooms, a genus accounting for more than 90 percent of all reported wild mushroom fatalities, he said. Some varieties are so toxic that even mushroom experts avoid them, Cohen said.

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Amateur New England foragers enjoy a mushroom season that lasts from roughly July Fourth to Columbus Day, and most stick to easily identifiable edible mushrooms, Cohen said: morels in the spring, yellow chanterelles in the summer, and oyster mushrooms in the fall.

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Wild mushroom poisoning remains fairly rare.

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The Regional Center for Poison Control, based at Children’s Hospital Boston, said that of the 195,000 calls it has handled since 2006 from Massachusetts, only 630 have been about potentially dangerous mushrooms.

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Of those calls, 136 cases were referred to a health care provider for further treatment, said the center’s spokeswoman Colleen Longfellow.

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Callers are encouraged to snap a cellphone photo of a questionable mushroom, as well as collect a sample in a bag for further study. An e-mailed photo of a potentially deadly mushroom can be examined by one of the agency’s mushroom specialists, called mycologists, often within an hour, she said.

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“We tell people they should absolutely avoid picking wild mushrooms,’’ said Longfellow. “And anyone with any concerns should call us immediately.’’

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Homeowners with small children who want to remove wild mushrooms from their yards can do so with a shovel and a bag, but should wash their hands carefully afterward to prevent accidental hand-mouth contact or ingestion, Longfellow said.
The death cap mushroom is found worldwide, and historians believe it was used to assassinate the ancient Roman emperor Claudius, said Dr. John Halamka, a consulting mycologist with the poison control agency.

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He said that while most toxic mushrooms produce stomach distress in a patient within two hours, the death cap doesn’t produce symptoms for up to 24 hours. Liver and kidney distress, and possibly failure, can follow if swift medical attention is not sought, he said. -The Boston Globe

GLOWING MUSHROOM PICTURES: Psychedelic New Species Seen

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October 5, 2009--Glowing nonstop in the Brazilian rain forest, the newfound mushroom Mycena luxaeterna (pictured both in daylight, top, and in the dark) is indeed a source of eternal light, as its Latin name inspired by verses from Mozart's "Requiem" implies.

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The tiny mushroom is one of 7 new species of glow-in-the-dark fungi found around the world, bringing the total known to 71, according to a study that appeared October 5 in the journal Mycologia.

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San Francisco State University's Dennis Desjardin and colleagues scouted for mushrooms during new moons, in rain forests so dark they often couldn't see their hands in front of their faces, he said.But "when you look down at the ground, it's like looking up at the sky," Desjardin said.

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"Every little 'star' was a little mushroom it was just fantastic.

"M. luxaeterna has a distinctive sticky gel on its stem that probably keeps it moist during the heat of the day. Unwitting insects get trapped in this natural fly paper, said Desjardin, who discovered the fungi with the University of Sao Paulo's Cassius V. Stevani.(See pictures of glowing mushrooms announced in 2006.)

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Christine Dell'Amore
—Photograph courtesy Cassius V. Stevani, Chemistry Institute, University of Sao Paulo

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Asslamualaikum dan salam sejahtera.

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Sambutan Aidilfitri masih lagi terasa dengan kemeriahan rumah terbuka di sana-sini. Namun bisnes diteruskan dengan saya mewar-warkan Kursus Cendawan terhangat di Malaya yang dianjurkan oleh Cendawan Puchong datang lagi dan kali ini dengan jadual yang kembali padat seperti dulu.

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Demand for shiitakes mushrooms

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The humorous phrase "shiitake happens" pops up on T-shirts, mugs and aprons on Web sites and in kitchen boutiques, but this is where it really does. And it's fair to say the industry's mushrooming.
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Shiitake mushrooms still carry the exotic label, but these are deemed "local" for chefs from Memphis to Jackson to New Orleans.
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They could hardly be fresher, harvested just hours before, their gray brown caps curling over creamy white gills at Mississippi Natural Products.
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September is National Mushroom Month. But Martinville mushroom grower Danny Hayman counters October would be a better pick, since that's when production picks up. "September isn't real good," he says with a chuckle.
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At peak production, November through March, Mississippi Natural Products handles 1,400 to 1,500 pounds of shiitake mushrooms a week. Mississippi Natural Products, formed seven years ago through Alcorn State, is now a 19-member co-op of shiitake mushroom farmers with a central facility for processing and distribution. With five years under its belt here, its piece-by-piece renovation has turned a former Buddy Jean's plant into shiitake central.
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"When we started out, we were doing 50 blocks a day. Now, we do 400 blocks a day," says Wanda Millis, president and CEO of Mississippi Natural Products.
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Those "blocks" are this business' building blocks - the five-pound bags of sawdust, nutrients and spawn that can produce seven to eight crops of shiitake mushrooms apiece.
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This is where the blocks are formed, inoculated and incubated for 10 weeks. They're then picked up by the growers, who grow the mushrooms within 10 days and sell them back to the co-op for distribution. The central facility also has a small growing room for quality control.
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Each stage of the process goes on here - from the piles of sawdust out back to the sorting room and refrigerated storage close to the front.
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"We buy the sawdust from mills and mix it with nutrients - that's kind of your secret formula," says Millis, as workers bag the mixture. Water's a vital ingredient, too, with moisture content tested for each two-cubic-yard batch that goes into the custom-built mixer.
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"Mushrooms are about 80 percent water anyway, so you need to make sure you have enough." Alcorn State researched the best formula for Mississippi's humidity.
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"Before this, we were growing herbs on a small scale. This was so successful, we let the herbs grow and just do the mushrooms now."
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The five-pound bags are then wheeled into a retort, a giant pressure cooker that, over four to five hours at 250 degrees, will sterilize the medium.
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Shiitake mycelium, also known as spawn, is added to cooled bags in the lab, then they're sealed and lined up on trays for a 10-week incubation. A small filter lets loose the carbon dioxide as the mycelium feeds; the block turns from brown to white and back to a darker, speckled brown with a crust. At this point, it resembles a bagged brick of heavenly hash cookie dough. "
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You'd be amazed the people who think it's a cake," Millis says.
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At that stage, the grower gets them, rips off the bag, hoses off the waste product called "mushroom pee" and the shiitakes get to growing.
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The mushrooms are grown indoors, in environmentally controlled rooms, with optimum light, temperature and moisture - a cycle of fluctuation and constancy.
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"We fool Mother Nature," sums up sales manager Sharon Newsom.
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Harvested mushrooms are grown and brought back twice a week. They're sorted by size and to a certain extent, looks, with less attractive 'shrooms destined for the dehydrator. Chefs like the premium larger ones, which can be grilled for a meat substitute.
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Small ones, marketed as "baby takiis," have found favor, too. Dried mushrooms are another market. "Fresh to Fry," prepackaged baby takiis and an Oriental batter seasoning packet, is due out in October.
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The hearty mushroom is a healthful food, with benefits ranging from antiviral and anti-cancer to antioxidants and lowering cholesterol. They're low in calories and can be a meat substitute for vegetarians.
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Taste and texture are their winning points.
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"It's a nutty, woodsy type flavor," says Newsom, who probably eats them at home at least once a week, and whose husband is an even bigger fan. "He loves them sauteed and any other way." Because of the shiitake's intense and earthy flavor, she advises people to use half the amount of shiitakes when substituting for button mushrooms in recipes.
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In the metro area, find Mississippi Natural Products at McDade's and Brookshire's. Restaurants using its shiitake mushrooms include Char, Bravo, Sal & Mookie's, Parker House, Walker's Drive-In, Fairview Inn, Atlantica, Bon Ami and the Auditorium Restaurant.
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"It's a great product - I love it," says Nate Ballard, executive chef at The Auditorium Restaurant, who's been using the shiitakes about three years. There, shiitake mushrooms add texture and earthiness to the restaurant's signature shrimp and grits.
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Local sourcing is important, Ballard says. "When it comes to food, it's better when it comes from the people around you, because it's going to be fresher. And everything tastes better when you know that the people that are making it are good people and are from the same place that you are." -Clarionledger

Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri

Buat seluruh umat Islam di Malaysia mahupun di serata dunia, saya dari team Cendawan Global mengucapkan Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri, maaf zahir dan batin jika ada kesilapan dan kesalahan selama ini. Semoga ikatan kekeluargaan kekal abadi.