Mushrooms are thousands of different varieties. I'm just going to be covering the most common mushrooms that I see at my grocery store so I'll be covering for chanterelle, shiitakes, white mushrooms and portabello now.
Mushrooms are a fungus and they have powerful medicinal qualities. They're antibacterial, anti-fungal and anti-inflammatory. there’s two main categories when it comes to mushrooms you either have cultivated mushrooms or wild mushrooms.
Cultivated mushrooms
They are the day-to-day mushrooms that most of you are probably more familiar with. This would include white mushrooms, cremini mushrooms and portobello mushrooms.
Wild mushrooms
On the other hand tend to be a little bit more exotic and these would include mushrooms like shiitakes, porcini and chanterelle mushrooms.
White mushrooms
This mushroom most available to us. They have a very mild earthy flavor and the caps can range anywhere from a half an inch to three inches round. You want them to have their stems attached and as long as the stems aren't too dried out on the bottom. You can chop them up and include them in the dish as well.
Cremini mushrooms
The cremini is just the baby version of the portobello. If you let this cremini continue to grow the cap opens up and flattens out and then the gills turn this dark chocolate brown color. This is why often times you'll see cremini mushrooms labelled as baby Bella's because really they are just a baby portobello mushroom. The cremini mushrooms are sometimes called Italian brown mushrooms or Swiss brown mushrooms. They are very similar in shape and size to the white mushroom except their color is a little bit darker. They tend to be more tan and brown and their flavor is a little bit richer. It's a little bit deeper than a white mushroom but ultimately a cremini mushroom and a white mushroom are completely interchangeable in any recipe.
If you're looking for a little more flavor go with the cremini if you want something a little bit more wild stick with the white mushroom.
3. Portobello Mushroom
The big beautiful portobello mushroom is much larger than a white or a cremini mushroom. The caps are flat and wide and oftentimes they can measure up to six inches in diameter.
I am just covering two different types of wild mushrooms.
A. Shiitake mushrooms
The shiitake mushroom is one of my personal favorites when it comes to the wild mushroom. They do tend to be a little bit more expensive but so do all the wild mushrooms. They have this really kind of fun funky look. They have a longer stem and then the caps look a little bit like an umbrella. They have a tan brownish color to them and the texture is very meaty and the thing about the shiitake is that it has a very distinctive smoky flavor to it, unlike the cultivated mushrooms.
B. Chanterelle mushrooms
The last mushroom I'm going to be covering is another wild mushroom and it is called the chantrelle now chanterelle mushrooms tend to be a little bit more orange sometimes gold. They have a really thick rich meaty texture . The tops are ruffled now they don't really have gills underneath but they do push up and outward. So many people say, they look a little bit like a tulip. This particular one doesn't really look like a tulip to me but oftentimes they do. The texture is really dense and meaty and the flavor is nutty and fruity.
0 Comments