The Piglet

Yesterday I pulled the last 3 crumbled bills from my pocket and I bought one precious Porcini mushroom. I couldn't resist the King of Mushrooms - or "the piglet" as the Italians so affectionately call it. What a great name. I cooked the sizable beauty tonight and as I sat on my front steps, the evening soft on my bare arms, I was fully present and ready for that first mouthful. At $2.50 for my locally, wild-foraged fungus, I decided it was to be enjoyed accordingly.

Deep breath and first bite.... meaty, savoury, woody, earthy, slightly nutty with a creamy ever so slightly chewy texture... and a whole lot more than my vocabulary stores can articulate (I'm collecting though!). How similar it was to the distinctive savoury flavour of meat... and there is a reason for that. Like meat, mushrooms contain glutamic acid. This term might sound familiar if you know what the acronym MSG stands for: mono-sodium glutamate. That's right - mushrooms (and also tomatoes and seaweed) are sources of this natural flavour enhancer. In this form and in these naturally occurring amounts, their action spells culinary magic rather than trouble for the MSG sensitive - so you can set aside the flash backs to flushed faces, wheezing lungs or headaches from your last visit to Happiness Imperial Gardens... (I'll resist the temptation to go on about the obvious effects of isolating natural compounds and taking them in unnatural amounts...).

Glutamic acid is sensed by our 5th flavour receptor- umami. Yes our tongues have 5 taste receptors... sweet, sour, bitter, salty and umami. Umami is more of a unifier than a "taste"- it amplifies and synergizes the flavor of the rest. It is what you might call "savoury". It is what I call delicious.

Not only do mushrooms have the ability to pump up the flavour in your kitchen creations - they have similar beefing effects on your immune system. The most studied for these immune modulating and anti-cancer effects are Maitake, Shitake and Reishi mushrooms but even the 3 most common supermarket varieties - the lowly button mushroom, Crimini and it's older sibling Portabello - have these polysaccharides (i.e. carbohydrates - poly = many/ saccharides = sugars) and beta-glucans (a soluble fiber made of medium chained polysaccharides that are indigestible by humans). These compounds have the incredible ability to modulate the immune system by activating it without the risk of over-stimulation (which is not a good idea in people with allergies or auto-immune diseases). They can increase production of white blood cells and then activate them, especially the "Natural Killer Cells" and "Cytotoxic T Cells" - two kinds of white blood cell that can attack tumor cells directly. Imagine that.

I love mushrooms, so I don't need much encouragement to eat them, but it helps my wallet to know they have potent anti-cancer and immune boosting properties that equal an excellent long-term health investment. That definitely encourages me to indulge a little more often.