Essay On Mushrooms

INTRODUCTION

Mushrooms have been a part of the human diet since time immemorial, involving a large number of edible species. In most countries mushrooms are an important delicacy because of the unique flavor and texture though they do not contribute a significant portion of the human diet [1a].Though more than 2000 species of mushrooms exist in nature, there are only less than 25 species are widely used as food and only a few have commercialized. Mushrooms are an attractive functional food because of their varied chemical constituents [2a]. The traditional use of mushrooms as food and medicine in Asian countries are also known [3a,4a]

Mushrooms are healthy foods rich with proteins, vitamins, minerals, fibers, trace elements and poor in calorie and cholesterol [5a,6a]. Mushrooms are comparable to meat, egg, and milk because it contains amino acid composition similar to that of animal proteins. Wild mushrooms serves as rich source of protein and lower amount of fat compared to commercial mushrooms [7a] .Wild mushrooms are thus nutritionally rich [8a,9a] and its consumption is increasing in the developed world [10a]. Western ghats region is one of

The dried mushroom samples were further heated at 105 ºC overnight until constant weight obtained for moisture content determination. The samples were incinerated at 550 ºC for 24 h and reweighed to determine ash content. MicroKjeldahl method was employed for the crude protein content (N × 4.38). The crude fat was determined by extracting a known weight of sample in Soxhlet apparatus using petroleum ether as a solvent. Total carbohydrates calculated by the difference. According to the following equation total energy was calculated: total energy (kJ) = 17 × (g crude protein + g total carbohydrate) + 37 × (g crude