1 00:00:08,800 --> 00:00:11,000 Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to favorite protection of iHeart Radio. I'm 2 00:00:11,039 --> 00:00:13,280 Speaker 1: Anny Rees and I'm lawin Vocal Mom. And today we 3 00:00:13,320 --> 00:00:18,439 Speaker 1: have a classic episode for you about mushrooms. Yes, and 4 00:00:20,120 --> 00:00:23,319 Speaker 1: look we've been We've talked a lot about mushrooms on 5 00:00:23,360 --> 00:00:28,800 Speaker 1: this show. Yeah. So so this, this initial generalized mushroom 6 00:00:28,880 --> 00:00:34,239 Speaker 1: episode aired in oh what's that date, February of I 7 00:00:34,240 --> 00:00:37,480 Speaker 1: don't even know when that was anymore. Um uh. And 8 00:00:37,600 --> 00:00:43,800 Speaker 1: since then we've done episodes on Chantrelle's truffles and morals. Um. 9 00:00:43,840 --> 00:00:48,320 Speaker 1: And honestly like, yeah, like we could keep going. We 10 00:00:48,320 --> 00:00:53,080 Speaker 1: we shall keep going. We must, we must because as 11 00:00:53,120 --> 00:00:57,000 Speaker 1: I was telling Lauren when when you suggested this, there's 12 00:00:57,000 --> 00:01:00,200 Speaker 1: been a lot of mushroom news lately. Yeah. And I 13 00:01:00,240 --> 00:01:04,480 Speaker 1: will tell you, um, I love mushrooms both as a 14 00:01:04,520 --> 00:01:08,160 Speaker 1: food but as a subject of interest. But they kind 15 00:01:08,200 --> 00:01:12,319 Speaker 1: of you know, only because of the last of us 16 00:01:12,480 --> 00:01:16,680 Speaker 1: or like in general. But that's a big piece of it, 17 00:01:16,760 --> 00:01:20,480 Speaker 1: which January not a sponsor, but I will be watching 18 00:01:21,319 --> 00:01:25,480 Speaker 1: the show comes out. Um. There has been a huge 19 00:01:25,600 --> 00:01:28,399 Speaker 1: wave of mushroom based horror. As I told you recently, 20 00:01:28,560 --> 00:01:33,240 Speaker 1: I have a whole list I could send um and uh, 21 00:01:33,360 --> 00:01:37,400 Speaker 1: I did see I think after we did the Truffles episode, 22 00:01:37,400 --> 00:01:41,880 Speaker 1: I watched the movie Pig with Nicholas Cage, which isn't horror, 23 00:01:41,920 --> 00:01:44,560 Speaker 1: but it kind of is touching on it. And this 24 00:01:44,600 --> 00:01:46,760 Speaker 1: weekend I went to go see the Menu and I 25 00:01:46,800 --> 00:01:52,440 Speaker 1: texted you about it, which is more horror. Yes, but 26 00:01:53,000 --> 00:01:55,040 Speaker 1: I think they did. Yeah, I think both of those 27 00:01:55,080 --> 00:02:00,000 Speaker 1: are considered um thrillers or perhaps suspense. But yes, from 28 00:02:00,120 --> 00:02:02,680 Speaker 1: I have not seen either, but from what I understand 29 00:02:02,760 --> 00:02:05,640 Speaker 1: that the Menu is straight up horror. Yeah, so it's 30 00:02:05,680 --> 00:02:11,040 Speaker 1: funny though I was watching, like, yeah, yeah, I have 31 00:02:11,120 --> 00:02:13,400 Speaker 1: I have some friends who all work in the same 32 00:02:13,480 --> 00:02:16,799 Speaker 1: kitchen together who who went to see that after one 33 00:02:16,840 --> 00:02:20,919 Speaker 1: of their recent and kind of grueling prep for Thanksgiving 34 00:02:23,160 --> 00:02:30,880 Speaker 1: work days, and apparently the theater was not prepared. Yeah, 35 00:02:30,919 --> 00:02:35,440 Speaker 1: it's a trip, it's a trip. But I was kind 36 00:02:35,480 --> 00:02:39,560 Speaker 1: of going over my nerdy like, here are some recent 37 00:02:39,680 --> 00:02:42,880 Speaker 1: mushroom facts, because mushrooms, do you get? They are involved 38 00:02:42,880 --> 00:02:44,440 Speaker 1: a lot in this kind of you know, the scene 39 00:02:44,480 --> 00:02:48,760 Speaker 1: that the Menu is making fun of, perhaps, but they're 40 00:02:48,800 --> 00:02:51,240 Speaker 1: also just cool and a lot of stuff is going on, 41 00:02:51,400 --> 00:02:55,560 Speaker 1: and there's been a lot of big mushroom based stories lately, 42 00:02:55,560 --> 00:02:57,840 Speaker 1: which I know sounds ridiculous. No, but but like the 43 00:02:57,919 --> 00:03:01,320 Speaker 1: like scientific research stories. Yeah, yes, so there was a 44 00:03:01,320 --> 00:03:06,600 Speaker 1: big one I'm really interested in, where um, scientists built 45 00:03:07,160 --> 00:03:15,800 Speaker 1: biodegradable computer chips using mushrooms. Okay, yeah, another one, Uh, 46 00:03:15,880 --> 00:03:20,200 Speaker 1: somebody used a synthboard I believe, hooked up to mushrooms 47 00:03:20,240 --> 00:03:24,760 Speaker 1: to make this music and it's pretty haunting sounding. Um, 48 00:03:24,800 --> 00:03:26,720 Speaker 1: but that was part of a larger study that we 49 00:03:26,720 --> 00:03:28,200 Speaker 1: were talking about. And we want to come back and 50 00:03:28,240 --> 00:03:31,680 Speaker 1: do a whole savior side dists'm use bouche or whatever 51 00:03:31,680 --> 00:03:34,359 Speaker 1: about all these mushrooms stories and they're like non food 52 00:03:34,400 --> 00:03:39,920 Speaker 1: related mushroom story. Yeah yeah, because right, I would. I 53 00:03:39,920 --> 00:03:42,360 Speaker 1: would go on for a solid twenty minutes about that. 54 00:03:42,520 --> 00:03:46,040 Speaker 1: It's I mean, we're only ostensibly a food show. So yeah, 55 00:03:46,080 --> 00:03:49,360 Speaker 1: and I thought the side dish side dishes can encompass 56 00:03:49,400 --> 00:03:53,920 Speaker 1: all kinds of things. That's what the men you taught me. 57 00:03:55,880 --> 00:03:59,120 Speaker 1: But but there there was really recent slash kind of 58 00:03:59,200 --> 00:04:04,120 Speaker 1: terrifying study about how mushrooms communicate, um and how they 59 00:04:04,840 --> 00:04:08,440 Speaker 1: it's like a music almost. It was really cool. It 60 00:04:08,600 --> 00:04:12,880 Speaker 1: was no joke, really really cool. Um, so we're going 61 00:04:12,960 --> 00:04:16,159 Speaker 1: to do that. Uh yeah, but this is kind of 62 00:04:16,560 --> 00:04:20,000 Speaker 1: this is like a amuse bouche for the amuse bouche. 63 00:04:20,040 --> 00:04:25,800 Speaker 1: It's a teaser with a throwback. Yeah, I do have 64 00:04:25,920 --> 00:04:28,920 Speaker 1: one quick correction. Um, when we first started into the 65 00:04:29,040 --> 00:04:33,719 Speaker 1: history section where we're talking about fungus more generally having 66 00:04:33,800 --> 00:04:38,440 Speaker 1: been a a a type of thing that was used 67 00:04:38,520 --> 00:04:41,720 Speaker 1: from like the dawn of heck and civilization in order 68 00:04:41,800 --> 00:04:46,000 Speaker 1: to produce things like wine and beer, um and and 69 00:04:46,000 --> 00:04:50,400 Speaker 1: and bread. And those were not literal mushroom wines or 70 00:04:50,600 --> 00:04:54,640 Speaker 1: meads or bread. They weren't made from mushrooms, but rather 71 00:04:54,960 --> 00:04:58,880 Speaker 1: fungal spores I mean, I mean cells, not sportes microbes 72 00:04:59,680 --> 00:05:05,400 Speaker 1: helped in the making of those products. Yeah, phonical spores, Lauren. 73 00:05:07,080 --> 00:05:11,480 Speaker 1: This is what breaks me out, but it's also cool. 74 00:05:12,120 --> 00:05:19,159 Speaker 1: So yes, that's that's fermentation. Yep, yep. Okay, well why 75 00:05:19,160 --> 00:05:33,880 Speaker 1: don't we let it pass? Any and Lauren take it away? Hello, 76 00:05:33,960 --> 00:05:36,600 Speaker 1: and welcome to food Stuff. I'm Any Rees and I'm 77 00:05:36,680 --> 00:05:40,440 Speaker 1: Lauren vocal Baum. And okay, we've got to We've got 78 00:05:40,440 --> 00:05:43,239 Speaker 1: a pop quiz at the top of the episode here. Yeah, yeah, 79 00:05:43,640 --> 00:05:48,160 Speaker 1: what is the largest organism on Earth? Dude? Do do 80 00:05:48,440 --> 00:05:52,280 Speaker 1: do? Do Do? Do? Do Do do? Actually, you probably knew the 81 00:05:52,320 --> 00:05:56,640 Speaker 1: answer right away based on what we're talking about. It 82 00:05:56,839 --> 00:06:00,880 Speaker 1: is a humongous honey fungus. Actually, I would not have 83 00:06:00,920 --> 00:06:04,400 Speaker 1: guessed that just from mushrooms being the title of the episode. 84 00:06:04,560 --> 00:06:06,800 Speaker 1: That's true. I knew it was a mushroom, but I 85 00:06:06,839 --> 00:06:11,000 Speaker 1: didn't know it was a honey fungus specifically. That's a 86 00:06:11,040 --> 00:06:15,440 Speaker 1: different thing. Well, it's located in Oregon, it's about two 87 00:06:15,440 --> 00:06:20,560 Speaker 1: point four miles long, what three point five kilometers? And uh, 88 00:06:20,680 --> 00:06:23,919 Speaker 1: that is one random fact of the episode that you 89 00:06:24,000 --> 00:06:28,520 Speaker 1: probably already knew. And one other trivia note. A fungus 90 00:06:28,560 --> 00:06:33,719 Speaker 1: aged forty million years is currently known as the oldest 91 00:06:33,839 --> 00:06:38,800 Speaker 1: organism to live on dry land. Yeah, a scientist said 92 00:06:38,800 --> 00:06:41,159 Speaker 1: in the Daily Mail article I read about it. It 93 00:06:41,320 --> 00:06:44,440 Speaker 1: fills an important gap in the evolution of life on 94 00:06:44,720 --> 00:06:49,520 Speaker 1: land and that it may have kick started life on earth. What. Yeah, 95 00:06:49,720 --> 00:06:52,039 Speaker 1: as this is a food show, we're going to be 96 00:06:52,080 --> 00:06:56,159 Speaker 1: talking about edible mushrooms today. Yes, if you if you 97 00:06:56,200 --> 00:06:59,880 Speaker 1: want to hear more about the psychedelic varieties. I believe 98 00:07:00,000 --> 00:07:03,159 Speaker 1: Eve that both stuff you should know and also stuff 99 00:07:03,200 --> 00:07:06,800 Speaker 1: to blow your mind have episodes about those. I do 100 00:07:06,880 --> 00:07:13,000 Speaker 1: not doubt it. So, Okay, mushrooms, what is it? I 101 00:07:13,080 --> 00:07:16,360 Speaker 1: love this code about them from edible mushrooms in their 102 00:07:16,400 --> 00:07:21,440 Speaker 1: creation without leaves, without buds, without flowers, yet they form 103 00:07:21,520 --> 00:07:24,640 Speaker 1: fruit as a food, as a tonic, as a medicine. 104 00:07:24,880 --> 00:07:29,880 Speaker 1: The entire creation is precious. That sounds very lovely. Yeah, 105 00:07:29,920 --> 00:07:34,640 Speaker 1: and or like a Tolkien like riddle. Uh okay, but 106 00:07:34,720 --> 00:07:37,840 Speaker 1: yeah so yes. Mushrooms are a type of fungus, neither 107 00:07:37,920 --> 00:07:42,360 Speaker 1: animal nor plant. They breathe oxygen and release carbon dioxide 108 00:07:42,480 --> 00:07:46,320 Speaker 1: like we do. They can grow above or in the ground, 109 00:07:46,400 --> 00:07:51,040 Speaker 1: with or without sunlight. They can't photosynthesize. They eat by 110 00:07:51,120 --> 00:07:56,160 Speaker 1: excreting digestive enzymes and then absorbing nutrients from the compounds 111 00:07:56,160 --> 00:07:59,800 Speaker 1: that those enzymes break down. But they don't have vascular systems. 112 00:07:59,800 --> 00:08:01,720 Speaker 1: They they grow similar to the way that plants do, 113 00:08:01,840 --> 00:08:05,440 Speaker 1: with new cells propagating out from developed cells, each with 114 00:08:05,480 --> 00:08:10,040 Speaker 1: its own cell wall, But those cell walls contain kitan 115 00:08:10,280 --> 00:08:15,880 Speaker 1: like animal cell walls do. Uh, basically like wtf nature, mushrooms, 116 00:08:16,280 --> 00:08:20,840 Speaker 1: what's going on right? More specifically, mushrooms are the edible 117 00:08:20,880 --> 00:08:25,640 Speaker 1: fruit of a larger fungus structure. Mushrooms produce spores that 118 00:08:25,880 --> 00:08:28,280 Speaker 1: sort of sort of like seeds, can spread on air 119 00:08:28,400 --> 00:08:32,240 Speaker 1: or water or moving creatures and grow into a new fungus. 120 00:08:32,640 --> 00:08:34,560 Speaker 1: They produce the spores in those kind of gill looking 121 00:08:34,600 --> 00:08:38,000 Speaker 1: structures on the underside of the cap. When a spore 122 00:08:38,120 --> 00:08:41,200 Speaker 1: lands in a suitably moist and nutritious area you know, 123 00:08:41,400 --> 00:08:43,640 Speaker 1: nice rotting bit of tree or a heap of manure, 124 00:08:44,800 --> 00:08:49,480 Speaker 1: I know, delicious, right, Um, it'll germinate and begin radiating 125 00:08:49,880 --> 00:08:54,400 Speaker 1: new cells outward from its central point. New cells only 126 00:08:54,440 --> 00:08:56,880 Speaker 1: grow on the tips of the older ones, so left 127 00:08:56,920 --> 00:08:59,360 Speaker 1: to its own devices, the fungus will usually grow out 128 00:08:59,760 --> 00:09:03,840 Speaker 1: from the center into this like flat circle of branched threads, 129 00:09:04,200 --> 00:09:07,040 Speaker 1: which over time can kind of cluster up into ropes. 130 00:09:07,800 --> 00:09:10,480 Speaker 1: Think of like a like a drink coaster made from 131 00:09:10,480 --> 00:09:15,600 Speaker 1: from lace or crochet doily. Okay, if your grandmother had those, 132 00:09:15,600 --> 00:09:19,440 Speaker 1: that's kind of sort of what this this root system 133 00:09:19,480 --> 00:09:23,160 Speaker 1: of of a of a mushroom amost like um like 134 00:09:23,200 --> 00:09:27,600 Speaker 1: your grandmother's do on a slightly larger scale. Generally um 135 00:09:28,120 --> 00:09:30,520 Speaker 1: that that sort of roots system is called a mycelium, 136 00:09:30,880 --> 00:09:33,480 Speaker 1: and it'll spread out underground or you know, through whatever 137 00:09:33,720 --> 00:09:36,840 Speaker 1: growth medium it's working with, and when it's developed enough 138 00:09:36,920 --> 00:09:39,600 Speaker 1: and the conditions are right, when the stars are right, 139 00:09:40,120 --> 00:09:43,280 Speaker 1: it'll shoot out fruit mushrooms to create spores and to 140 00:09:43,320 --> 00:09:47,280 Speaker 1: begin the life cycle again. By the way, the growth 141 00:09:47,280 --> 00:09:50,480 Speaker 1: pattern of fungi cells, you know, from the tips radiating 142 00:09:50,480 --> 00:09:55,480 Speaker 1: outward like I described, is why mushroom fery circles form. Oh, 143 00:09:55,720 --> 00:09:58,480 Speaker 1: the mushrooms pop up along the outer edges of the 144 00:09:58,600 --> 00:10:02,320 Speaker 1: underground circular my cellium, and grass tends to be greener 145 00:10:02,360 --> 00:10:05,079 Speaker 1: on the inside of these circles than on the outside 146 00:10:05,120 --> 00:10:08,360 Speaker 1: because the mycelium is breaking down compounds in the soil, 147 00:10:08,440 --> 00:10:11,400 Speaker 1: giving the grass that grows above it more available nutrients. 148 00:10:12,400 --> 00:10:15,120 Speaker 1: I was so in two fairy circles when I was 149 00:10:15,200 --> 00:10:17,520 Speaker 1: a kid, Right, aren't they great? They're so cute. Yeah, 150 00:10:17,559 --> 00:10:20,480 Speaker 1: I had a fairy house. I had this like little 151 00:10:20,600 --> 00:10:22,440 Speaker 1: bell to try to attract them. Did you see that 152 00:10:22,480 --> 00:10:27,600 Speaker 1: movie that they proved the photograph was fake? But okay, anyway, 153 00:10:27,720 --> 00:10:32,520 Speaker 1: point being, this was a lovely unexpected throwback. So if 154 00:10:32,559 --> 00:10:34,920 Speaker 1: we look at the types of mushrooms that you're likely 155 00:10:34,960 --> 00:10:38,920 Speaker 1: to find in stores, the button mushroom is the most cultivated, 156 00:10:39,240 --> 00:10:45,280 Speaker 1: but there are so many types, more than I realized. Technically. 157 00:10:45,520 --> 00:10:49,200 Speaker 1: Oh man, me too, You've got truffles was probably one 158 00:10:49,200 --> 00:10:52,680 Speaker 1: of the first ones few foodies thought of I don't 159 00:10:52,679 --> 00:10:56,320 Speaker 1: know um which Brilliot Severan, we've mentioned him before. He 160 00:10:56,440 --> 00:11:00,600 Speaker 1: named them the diamond in the aught of cookery. And 161 00:11:00,720 --> 00:11:03,720 Speaker 1: I had a question why truffles be so expensive. I 162 00:11:03,720 --> 00:11:06,760 Speaker 1: don't know, Well I do. It's because there's a lot 163 00:11:06,760 --> 00:11:11,480 Speaker 1: of work involved. Shuffle forgers use dogs and pigs that 164 00:11:11,559 --> 00:11:15,640 Speaker 1: are trained to recognize the smell of truffles, and when 165 00:11:15,679 --> 00:11:18,280 Speaker 1: they find them, a truffle farmer sort of treats it 166 00:11:18,320 --> 00:11:22,120 Speaker 1: like someone who has found a fossil, very carefully examining 167 00:11:22,160 --> 00:11:25,320 Speaker 1: the surroundings, cleaning, and then checking to see if it's ripe. 168 00:11:26,280 --> 00:11:29,400 Speaker 1: The farmer can't or shouldn't really touch them either, because 169 00:11:29,480 --> 00:11:32,760 Speaker 1: it might make it rot if it isn't ready. Oh yeah, 170 00:11:32,800 --> 00:11:37,320 Speaker 1: and they're underground in case you didn't gather that. Gather 171 00:11:37,440 --> 00:11:42,000 Speaker 1: that from what I was saying, Oh, truffle aside, you've 172 00:11:42,040 --> 00:11:47,240 Speaker 1: got portobello, chautaki, carmini, porcini, morals, oyster, button, king, trumpet, 173 00:11:47,280 --> 00:11:50,240 Speaker 1: chanter els and oki, caulifire, mushrooms, on and on and 174 00:11:50,280 --> 00:11:52,760 Speaker 1: on and on. Do you have a favorite type of mushroom? 175 00:11:52,800 --> 00:11:55,720 Speaker 1: Moren oh, all all of the above. Maybe maybe maybe 176 00:11:55,800 --> 00:11:59,640 Speaker 1: good good old like baby part of bellows yeah, which 177 00:11:59,679 --> 00:12:02,720 Speaker 1: which I guess is sometimes also called criminals. Yes, I 178 00:12:02,760 --> 00:12:07,800 Speaker 1: think so, Okay, there are over two thousand known species, 179 00:12:08,000 --> 00:12:10,920 Speaker 1: but it could be way more, and it's generally agreed upon. 180 00:12:11,840 --> 00:12:14,240 Speaker 1: We haven't found them all. I would say, definitely, we 181 00:12:14,280 --> 00:12:18,760 Speaker 1: haven't found them all. Yeah. Of those we widely eat 182 00:12:19,040 --> 00:12:23,920 Speaker 1: only about twenty five of them. Yeah. But but one 183 00:12:23,960 --> 00:12:27,840 Speaker 1: thing I read from Oxford Research, Encyclopedia's cited estimates of 184 00:12:27,960 --> 00:12:33,520 Speaker 1: up to five million, five million fecis of fun guy 185 00:12:33,600 --> 00:12:38,080 Speaker 1: on Earth. The most accepted estimate is one point five million. 186 00:12:38,840 --> 00:12:42,520 Speaker 1: From that, scientists suspect that mushrooms would make up about 187 00:12:42,800 --> 00:12:46,400 Speaker 1: one d and sixty thousand of that number, which means 188 00:12:46,400 --> 00:12:50,840 Speaker 1: we only know about ten of them. And I love this. 189 00:12:51,040 --> 00:12:54,439 Speaker 1: Using our current discovery rate, it would take about four 190 00:12:54,559 --> 00:12:59,360 Speaker 1: thousand years for us to discover them all. That's a 191 00:12:59,400 --> 00:13:05,640 Speaker 1: lot ste beautiful long discovery process. Yes, However, important to 192 00:13:05,640 --> 00:13:10,240 Speaker 1: this show, only about seven thousand of that sixty thousand 193 00:13:10,320 --> 00:13:14,240 Speaker 1: number are believed to be mushrooms that are edible. Oh okay, 194 00:13:14,320 --> 00:13:18,400 Speaker 1: yeah important, It's still quite a bit, I would say, yeah. Okay, 195 00:13:18,440 --> 00:13:21,920 Speaker 1: So while mushrooms do grow in the wild, for something 196 00:13:21,960 --> 00:13:25,920 Speaker 1: that just grows right on poop um. Industrial mushroom farming 197 00:13:26,040 --> 00:13:31,600 Speaker 1: is a serious technological undertaking. Farmers create these indoor environments 198 00:13:31,640 --> 00:13:34,200 Speaker 1: that they can control to best benefit their crops in 199 00:13:34,320 --> 00:13:40,800 Speaker 1: terms of temperature, humidity, light, growth media, and potential pests. First, 200 00:13:41,440 --> 00:13:43,840 Speaker 1: such a farmer might try to create a pure fungal 201 00:13:43,880 --> 00:13:47,920 Speaker 1: culture for a particular type of mushroom by germinating spores 202 00:13:48,120 --> 00:13:51,600 Speaker 1: um on on agar in vitro like in dishes and labs, 203 00:13:51,679 --> 00:13:55,920 Speaker 1: and then culturing the resulting threads in sterilized medium and 204 00:13:55,960 --> 00:13:59,600 Speaker 1: then further developing uh those those that that that growing 205 00:13:59,679 --> 00:14:03,800 Speaker 1: funga in a growth medium, and that growth medium thing alright, 206 00:14:03,880 --> 00:14:08,320 Speaker 1: So creating the best dirt or would for mushrooms to 207 00:14:08,360 --> 00:14:13,079 Speaker 1: grow in is a perhaps shockingly complex process. As I 208 00:14:13,120 --> 00:14:16,400 Speaker 1: was reading the research for it, it's very specific and 209 00:14:16,480 --> 00:14:21,200 Speaker 1: very industrial as everything is. But I was just like mushrooms, 210 00:14:21,200 --> 00:14:24,240 Speaker 1: they grow on dirt. Now the dirt of story, the 211 00:14:24,280 --> 00:14:28,200 Speaker 1: dirt is super specific. Mushroom farmers have always depended on 212 00:14:28,320 --> 00:14:31,880 Speaker 1: other producers by products to create their growth material. You know, 213 00:14:31,920 --> 00:14:38,840 Speaker 1: plant and animal waste composted to perfection. Delicious for mushrooms 214 00:14:38,880 --> 00:14:41,800 Speaker 1: that grow naturally on trees or logs like the chattake. 215 00:14:42,320 --> 00:14:47,480 Speaker 1: Farmers might prepare actual logs or create synthetic logs, which 216 00:14:47,520 --> 00:14:50,640 Speaker 1: are basically bags packed with a mixture of sawdust and 217 00:14:50,680 --> 00:14:53,600 Speaker 1: then supplements like a wheat brand or spent coffee grounds 218 00:14:53,720 --> 00:14:57,080 Speaker 1: or powdered corn cobs, or on and on um. Different 219 00:14:57,080 --> 00:15:02,120 Speaker 1: types of mushrooms bear different enzymes for break down specific substances, 220 00:15:02,160 --> 00:15:05,800 Speaker 1: so lots of different composting material could be used depending 221 00:15:05,840 --> 00:15:09,280 Speaker 1: on these species that you are growing. This media or 222 00:15:09,320 --> 00:15:12,360 Speaker 1: these media rather are often kept in blocks like crates 223 00:15:12,640 --> 00:15:15,160 Speaker 1: kind of with these clear side panels that you can 224 00:15:15,360 --> 00:15:19,520 Speaker 1: keep track of the growing my cellium. And these crates 225 00:15:19,560 --> 00:15:23,720 Speaker 1: can be stacked into these huge tall shelving units and 226 00:15:23,760 --> 00:15:26,640 Speaker 1: then moved into different areas of of your of your 227 00:15:26,640 --> 00:15:30,480 Speaker 1: indoor mushroom farm at different stages of development. Uh. Part 228 00:15:30,600 --> 00:15:34,720 Speaker 1: of some mushrooms development involves picking up hormonal cues from 229 00:15:34,800 --> 00:15:38,320 Speaker 1: nearby fungi. It's sort of like, oh, oh, hey, you're 230 00:15:38,360 --> 00:15:40,760 Speaker 1: you're making this type of cell. I'm gonna go ahead 231 00:15:40,760 --> 00:15:42,920 Speaker 1: and make this complimentary type of cell, and then they 232 00:15:42,960 --> 00:15:47,600 Speaker 1: can have beautiful mushroom babies together. Inter mushroom communication. Who 233 00:15:47,680 --> 00:15:51,200 Speaker 1: knew not me, not me? Uh so, yeah, it can 234 00:15:51,240 --> 00:15:55,280 Speaker 1: be really important to be able to move these crates. Um. 235 00:15:55,320 --> 00:15:58,400 Speaker 1: These crates are blocks of media plus my cellium are 236 00:15:58,440 --> 00:16:04,240 Speaker 1: sometimes called spawn in the industry. By the way, spawn, Yeah, 237 00:16:04,440 --> 00:16:08,480 Speaker 1: they probably each have really awesome little capes. I don't 238 00:16:08,480 --> 00:16:10,400 Speaker 1: know enough about the horror movie spawn to make a 239 00:16:10,480 --> 00:16:14,280 Speaker 1: joke about it, but there's some joke there. Somebody write 240 00:16:14,320 --> 00:16:16,000 Speaker 1: it for us. Please, yeah, right right in and let 241 00:16:16,080 --> 00:16:20,560 Speaker 1: us know what you got. The resulting mushrooms that um 242 00:16:20,680 --> 00:16:25,440 Speaker 1: spawn from the spawn are typically harvested by hand. Like 243 00:16:25,520 --> 00:16:29,160 Speaker 1: each mushroom is gently twisted and popped from the mycelium 244 00:16:29,400 --> 00:16:32,520 Speaker 1: and then packed up once they get to you. Mushrooms 245 00:16:32,520 --> 00:16:35,440 Speaker 1: are best stored in a paper bag or loosely wrapped 246 00:16:35,480 --> 00:16:39,120 Speaker 1: in paper towels that are then loosely wrapped in plastic. 247 00:16:39,760 --> 00:16:42,320 Speaker 1: It's best not to wash them because they soak up 248 00:16:42,360 --> 00:16:44,800 Speaker 1: moisture and might get all soggy. But if that makes 249 00:16:44,840 --> 00:16:46,880 Speaker 1: you twitchy, you can scrub them with a damp paper 250 00:16:46,920 --> 00:16:49,640 Speaker 1: towel or brins quickly with cold water in a colander. 251 00:16:49,920 --> 00:16:52,960 Speaker 1: That's what I do. I'm very glad to have read this, 252 00:16:53,000 --> 00:16:55,440 Speaker 1: because I always, like my mushrooms always get that gross, 253 00:16:56,520 --> 00:16:59,920 Speaker 1: slimy kind of Yeah. Now, I know. Do you have 254 00:17:00,000 --> 00:17:01,760 Speaker 1: favorite type of mushroom? I didn't ask you. In return, 255 00:17:02,520 --> 00:17:07,400 Speaker 1: I do and is chake. There's a place in Georgia 256 00:17:07,520 --> 00:17:12,840 Speaker 1: that they're usually at every farmers market mushrooms man mm 257 00:17:12,960 --> 00:17:20,240 Speaker 1: hmmm uh and Mushrooms are cultivated in over sixty countries. 258 00:17:20,359 --> 00:17:22,840 Speaker 1: In the year two thousand, the top producers were China, 259 00:17:23,200 --> 00:17:27,360 Speaker 1: the US, France, Poland and the Netherlands. You can find 260 00:17:27,440 --> 00:17:30,560 Speaker 1: mushrooms in places that otherwise don't have much else growing 261 00:17:30,640 --> 00:17:35,120 Speaker 1: in parts of Africa and Asia. Asian countries make use 262 00:17:35,160 --> 00:17:39,760 Speaker 1: of a wider variety of mushrooms accepted for eating. Yeah, 263 00:17:40,040 --> 00:17:42,399 Speaker 1: and China they eat up to seven hundred wild and 264 00:17:42,480 --> 00:17:46,439 Speaker 1: domesticated varieties. For the French, that number is closer to 265 00:17:46,640 --> 00:17:50,879 Speaker 1: two hundred types. The largest producer of commercial mushrooms, China, 266 00:17:51,160 --> 00:17:56,000 Speaker 1: produced twenty eight points three million tons in that's about 267 00:17:56,000 --> 00:18:00,600 Speaker 1: eight seven of the global market. The industry in China 268 00:18:00,760 --> 00:18:05,920 Speaker 1: employees thirty five million people. I'm just shaking my head, 269 00:18:05,960 --> 00:18:08,280 Speaker 1: which is working great on radio, I'm sure, but yes, 270 00:18:08,359 --> 00:18:13,360 Speaker 1: that's a that's gigantic. I love it. Worldwide, total mushroom 271 00:18:13,359 --> 00:18:16,840 Speaker 1: production in twelve was estimated at thirty one million tons, 272 00:18:17,359 --> 00:18:22,320 Speaker 1: valued at over twenty billion dollars US and mushrooms have 273 00:18:22,359 --> 00:18:24,960 Speaker 1: been getting more popular in the past few decades, with 274 00:18:25,080 --> 00:18:28,920 Speaker 1: total global production increasing annually at an average of like 275 00:18:29,119 --> 00:18:33,760 Speaker 1: thirt cent every year. During this whole time, crops of 276 00:18:33,800 --> 00:18:37,280 Speaker 1: the everyday button mushroom have decreased as other varieties have 277 00:18:37,359 --> 00:18:41,959 Speaker 1: become more popular and available. Yeah, one of the reasons 278 00:18:42,000 --> 00:18:45,359 Speaker 1: they're so popular is they're used both as a food 279 00:18:45,720 --> 00:18:50,879 Speaker 1: and a medicinal product. Surprised surprise, Mushrooms are high in protein, fiber, 280 00:18:50,960 --> 00:18:53,280 Speaker 1: and a whole bunch of nutrients while being low and fat, 281 00:18:53,400 --> 00:18:56,360 Speaker 1: so they're pretty good food choice. In general. They can 282 00:18:56,400 --> 00:19:00,920 Speaker 1: be a non animal source of vitamin D, which makes 283 00:19:00,960 --> 00:19:04,880 Speaker 1: them a particularly good choice for vegetarians, and like many 284 00:19:04,920 --> 00:19:09,080 Speaker 1: foods that we talk about, they have a long history 285 00:19:09,119 --> 00:19:12,760 Speaker 1: of being used as a preventatives and remedies for any 286 00:19:12,920 --> 00:19:17,000 Speaker 1: number of conditions. Various species and extracts of mushrooms are 287 00:19:17,040 --> 00:19:20,400 Speaker 1: being studied for just all all kinds of potential benefits, 288 00:19:20,440 --> 00:19:26,000 Speaker 1: including improving the immune system, improving the gut microbiome, inhibiting 289 00:19:26,040 --> 00:19:31,520 Speaker 1: the growth of cancer, protecting against neurodegeneration. As usual, though 290 00:19:31,640 --> 00:19:34,680 Speaker 1: a research is still preliminary and has not produced solid 291 00:19:34,760 --> 00:19:39,119 Speaker 1: evidence about any of these benefits. Yet eating mushrooms is 292 00:19:39,160 --> 00:19:41,440 Speaker 1: part of your diet certainly won't hurt and may help, 293 00:19:41,920 --> 00:19:45,440 Speaker 1: but talk to a doctor before trying extracts, and don't 294 00:19:45,480 --> 00:19:49,560 Speaker 1: buy into claims, especially like expensive claims that some particular 295 00:19:49,600 --> 00:19:51,879 Speaker 1: type of mushroom is going to be a magic fix 296 00:19:52,280 --> 00:19:55,720 Speaker 1: for whatever issue. Magic mushrooms are a separate thing. I 297 00:19:55,840 --> 00:20:01,040 Speaker 1: was about to say. I recently me NPR had a 298 00:20:01,040 --> 00:20:05,560 Speaker 1: story about um countries that still use mushrooms medicinally, So 299 00:20:05,760 --> 00:20:08,240 Speaker 1: if you're interested, you can go you can go check 300 00:20:08,280 --> 00:20:11,760 Speaker 1: that out. But in the meantime, we have a lot 301 00:20:12,240 --> 00:20:14,600 Speaker 1: of history to cover when it comes to mushrooms. But 302 00:20:14,680 --> 00:20:17,440 Speaker 1: first let's take a quick break for a word from 303 00:20:17,440 --> 00:20:30,880 Speaker 1: our sponsor, and we're back. Thank you sponsor, Yes, thank you. 304 00:20:32,560 --> 00:20:38,400 Speaker 1: Humans have been eating mushrooms for a long time, probably 305 00:20:38,440 --> 00:20:42,760 Speaker 1: back to prehistoric folks and our hunter gatherer ancestors. This 306 00:20:42,840 --> 00:20:48,720 Speaker 1: is speculation, but generally agreed upon speculation. The world's oldest 307 00:20:48,800 --> 00:20:53,040 Speaker 1: human mummy, Otzi, the iceman of brad Pitt Tattoo fame, 308 00:20:54,800 --> 00:20:58,480 Speaker 1: about five thousand years old, had two types of mushrooms 309 00:20:58,520 --> 00:21:01,159 Speaker 1: on him that he was probably using one of them 310 00:21:01,240 --> 00:21:05,200 Speaker 1: medicinally and the other was included in a sort of 311 00:21:05,600 --> 00:21:09,960 Speaker 1: highly advanced for the time fire starting kit. Yeah. Part 312 00:21:10,000 --> 00:21:11,639 Speaker 1: of the reason why this is all speculation is that 313 00:21:11,720 --> 00:21:15,640 Speaker 1: mushrooms don't leave of fossil evidence or or not fossil. 314 00:21:16,160 --> 00:21:18,000 Speaker 1: They don't leave evidence the way that a lot of 315 00:21:18,000 --> 00:21:24,080 Speaker 1: other vegetative systems do. Yes, but by the Neolithic times, 316 00:21:24,680 --> 00:21:27,960 Speaker 1: fungi were used to make mead and other fermented beverages 317 00:21:28,000 --> 00:21:32,119 Speaker 1: like beer or wine. Mushroom meade. I want to drink 318 00:21:32,160 --> 00:21:39,480 Speaker 1: that immediately, mushroom meade new cocktail hour. Yes. Similarly, analysis 319 00:21:39,480 --> 00:21:43,119 Speaker 1: of yeast residue in drinking and or brewing vessels in 320 00:21:43,200 --> 00:21:47,720 Speaker 1: ancient Egypt seemed to indicate that, whether accidentally or on purpose, 321 00:21:48,200 --> 00:21:51,480 Speaker 1: fungi were used in beer and wine making as far 322 00:21:51,600 --> 00:21:56,159 Speaker 1: back as three thousand, six hundred fifty BC. Some of 323 00:21:56,160 --> 00:21:58,560 Speaker 1: this evidence was found in the tomb of a queen 324 00:21:58,640 --> 00:22:03,200 Speaker 1: containing a jar beer. Higher glyphs from around that time 325 00:22:03,240 --> 00:22:08,960 Speaker 1: called mushrooms a plant of immortality. Because of this, they 326 00:22:09,000 --> 00:22:12,240 Speaker 1: were largely reserved for royalty. We don't need our our 327 00:22:12,280 --> 00:22:17,359 Speaker 1: poor people being immortal ang us. Other things I read 328 00:22:17,520 --> 00:22:21,720 Speaker 1: about beliefs pen to mushrooms labeled them as granting superhuman 329 00:22:21,760 --> 00:22:25,040 Speaker 1: strength like super Mario. Oh man, do you think that's 330 00:22:25,040 --> 00:22:26,600 Speaker 1: where they got it from. I don't think so at all, 331 00:22:26,760 --> 00:22:30,200 Speaker 1: Probably not, but still that's exciting. Um that they could 332 00:22:30,280 --> 00:22:33,480 Speaker 1: aid in the search for something lost. So you eat 333 00:22:33,480 --> 00:22:36,760 Speaker 1: a mushroom, you're like, a ha uh. They could lead 334 00:22:36,880 --> 00:22:41,679 Speaker 1: your lost soul to the godly realm. Yeah. Up to 335 00:22:41,960 --> 00:22:45,600 Speaker 1: seven thousand years ago, the ancient Chinese knew about fun guy, 336 00:22:45,640 --> 00:22:49,480 Speaker 1: but it's more likely they used mushrooms again for medicinal 337 00:22:49,520 --> 00:22:54,159 Speaker 1: purposes rather than food. Some evidence indicates that the Chinese 338 00:22:54,200 --> 00:22:59,879 Speaker 1: started consuming mushrooms in nine dred BC. A lot of 339 00:23:00,040 --> 00:23:04,719 Speaker 1: ushroom varieties were first cultivated in China, certainly by the 340 00:23:04,720 --> 00:23:08,720 Speaker 1: time the Han dynasty came along. Around the Book of 341 00:23:08,760 --> 00:23:15,200 Speaker 1: Songs listed several edible mushrooms. In one a Japanese emperor 342 00:23:15,320 --> 00:23:19,720 Speaker 1: visiting China was offered edible mushrooms as as a welcoming gift. 343 00:23:20,920 --> 00:23:24,760 Speaker 1: Chinese physician wrote that the chatake was the elixir of life. 344 00:23:25,400 --> 00:23:30,639 Speaker 1: Around dred to sixteen hundred CE dates so hard to 345 00:23:30,680 --> 00:23:34,320 Speaker 1: pin down. Around this same period you could find written 346 00:23:34,359 --> 00:23:39,320 Speaker 1: instructions for cultivating mushrooms. The ancient Greeks used them. I 347 00:23:39,400 --> 00:23:44,199 Speaker 1: suppose alongside garlic to give strength to their warriors. Delicious strength. 348 00:23:44,359 --> 00:23:49,240 Speaker 1: I know, you get mushrooms and garlic. Perfect. However, mushroom 349 00:23:49,240 --> 00:23:54,440 Speaker 1: consumption was not without its problems. Both Euripides and Hippocrates 350 00:23:54,520 --> 00:23:58,760 Speaker 1: wrote about accidental mushroom poisoning in the fifth century b C. 351 00:24:00,800 --> 00:24:04,600 Speaker 1: And at last, we're talking about a food the ancient 352 00:24:04,800 --> 00:24:09,560 Speaker 1: Romans liked. What is it possible? Are we in the 353 00:24:09,640 --> 00:24:14,720 Speaker 1: olive oil episode? And I'm just confused. They called mushrooms 354 00:24:14,760 --> 00:24:18,040 Speaker 1: the food of the gods. They even had a designated 355 00:24:18,080 --> 00:24:21,360 Speaker 1: cooking vessel for them, and the legend goes a Grippa 356 00:24:21,440 --> 00:24:25,520 Speaker 1: used this vessel to feed poisonous mushrooms to kill her husband, 357 00:24:25,680 --> 00:24:29,320 Speaker 1: Emperor Claudius, to clear the path for her son Nero 358 00:24:30,119 --> 00:24:36,240 Speaker 1: to become rooms. Emperor wo Horace wrote around that they 359 00:24:36,280 --> 00:24:42,479 Speaker 1: were expensive delicacies, and Romans had integrated truffles into their 360 00:24:42,480 --> 00:24:45,440 Speaker 1: cuisine by the first entry CE. My favorite part about 361 00:24:45,480 --> 00:24:48,560 Speaker 1: it is that they believed that the answer to where 362 00:24:48,640 --> 00:24:51,919 Speaker 1: do truffles come from? Was a lightning strike hitting the 363 00:24:51,960 --> 00:24:57,520 Speaker 1: ground during thunderstorms. Wow, that's awesome. That's that's way more 364 00:24:57,560 --> 00:25:01,760 Speaker 1: metal than I think it actually is. But great. The 365 00:25:01,800 --> 00:25:04,399 Speaker 1: oldest cookbook we know of dating back to third century 366 00:25:04,440 --> 00:25:09,080 Speaker 1: Ce had a handful of brisipees using mushrooms. As for Japan, 367 00:25:09,400 --> 00:25:14,560 Speaker 1: mushrooms appear in text around seven, referring to much earlier 368 00:25:14,640 --> 00:25:18,760 Speaker 1: encounters with mushrooms, like the one in China mentioned above. 369 00:25:19,440 --> 00:25:26,080 Speaker 1: Jumping jumping way ahead to the sixteenth century, two verses 370 00:25:26,119 --> 00:25:31,560 Speaker 1: had been composed about mushrooms and mushroom gathering. The way 371 00:25:31,720 --> 00:25:34,480 Speaker 1: these mushrooms were being cultivated, by the way was on 372 00:25:34,720 --> 00:25:38,159 Speaker 1: rotting logs. In the case of ancient Rome and Greece, 373 00:25:38,320 --> 00:25:42,000 Speaker 1: they used slices of poplar tree trunk. This kind of 374 00:25:42,040 --> 00:25:44,520 Speaker 1: reminds me those mushrooms. Did you do this as a 375 00:25:44,600 --> 00:25:46,240 Speaker 1: kid that would grow on the logs and need to 376 00:25:46,280 --> 00:25:50,080 Speaker 1: stomp on and like that fog would come out? Was 377 00:25:50,119 --> 00:25:55,800 Speaker 1: that doing something potentially deadly? I would do it to 378 00:25:55,840 --> 00:25:59,160 Speaker 1: create dramatic effect in the stories, and I was telling 379 00:25:59,200 --> 00:26:01,960 Speaker 1: to no one in the words but myself. I grew 380 00:26:02,040 --> 00:26:04,919 Speaker 1: up in Ohio, so so we might have had a 381 00:26:04,960 --> 00:26:09,200 Speaker 1: different mushroom culture who didn't have smokey mushrooms. So occa, 382 00:26:09,520 --> 00:26:12,919 Speaker 1: All right, Well back to history. At records show that 383 00:26:12,960 --> 00:26:17,880 Speaker 1: the Vikings and Siberian Shamans used hallucinogenic mushrooms and religious 384 00:26:17,920 --> 00:26:22,480 Speaker 1: ceremonies circa one thousand CE and at least one thousand 385 00:26:22,600 --> 00:26:25,680 Speaker 1: years ago. Records exist that several types of fun guy, 386 00:26:25,760 --> 00:26:30,879 Speaker 1: including truffles, were being eaten in North Africa when the 387 00:26:30,880 --> 00:26:34,679 Speaker 1: Spanish arrived in Mexico in the sixteenth century. They wrote 388 00:26:34,680 --> 00:26:37,680 Speaker 1: that the Aztecs used a mushroom, the name of which 389 00:26:37,800 --> 00:26:42,280 Speaker 1: translated to God's flesh. A book by an herbalist in 390 00:26:42,680 --> 00:26:46,440 Speaker 1: fifteen fifty two noted the Mayans used the same mushroom 391 00:26:46,560 --> 00:26:52,840 Speaker 1: for pain management. Some surviving Mayan manuscripts depicted mushrooms as sacred. 392 00:26:53,520 --> 00:26:58,200 Speaker 1: That same mushroom God's flesh later pops up in Bernardino 393 00:26:58,320 --> 00:27:01,320 Speaker 1: does the Hagoons sixteenth century book General History of the 394 00:27:01,400 --> 00:27:06,240 Speaker 1: Things in New Spain, as a hallucinogenic employed by the Aztecs. 395 00:27:06,960 --> 00:27:14,399 Speaker 1: He wrote that it incited luxury goodness. I know the 396 00:27:14,480 --> 00:27:18,239 Speaker 1: first reference book dedicated to mushrooms came out around this 397 00:27:18,280 --> 00:27:24,760 Speaker 1: time as well. And if we're talking straight up mushroom cultivation, 398 00:27:26,160 --> 00:27:30,080 Speaker 1: we've got to talk about the French. Oh, of course, yes, yes, yes, yes. 399 00:27:30,680 --> 00:27:34,680 Speaker 1: Renaissance era France enjoyed a truffles and their food sometimes 400 00:27:34,680 --> 00:27:38,919 Speaker 1: pickled or in sauces are served with butter. I know 401 00:27:39,000 --> 00:27:43,879 Speaker 1: you're wondering, and yes, they were seen as an afprodusiac question, 402 00:27:44,160 --> 00:27:50,119 Speaker 1: answered Louis Is four, and Napoleon adored them. France had 403 00:27:50,160 --> 00:27:53,000 Speaker 1: a habit of running a string through mushrooms and hanging 404 00:27:53,040 --> 00:27:56,000 Speaker 1: them in his room because he loved them so much. 405 00:27:56,200 --> 00:28:00,320 Speaker 1: He wants to smell. Yeah. At first I was confused too, Yeah, 406 00:28:00,359 --> 00:28:03,600 Speaker 1: I was like, sure, right, that was for the smelan. 407 00:28:03,640 --> 00:28:06,480 Speaker 1: He would just like grab one of his mouth and go. 408 00:28:07,520 --> 00:28:10,400 Speaker 1: They even had a way of transplanting them by these 409 00:28:10,560 --> 00:28:15,240 Speaker 1: by being super careful when handling and moving them. France 410 00:28:15,280 --> 00:28:19,560 Speaker 1: exported mushrooms to England beginning with the eighteenth century, and 411 00:28:19,720 --> 00:28:22,760 Speaker 1: the English also used horse maneuver, which I should have mentioned. 412 00:28:22,800 --> 00:28:25,680 Speaker 1: That's what the French were doing, um in their mushroom cultivation, 413 00:28:25,800 --> 00:28:31,320 Speaker 1: but they went a step further by stacking and composting. Yeah, 414 00:28:31,480 --> 00:28:35,800 Speaker 1: so similar to what we do today. The word mushroom 415 00:28:35,840 --> 00:28:41,800 Speaker 1: itself probably comes from an old French word musson from 416 00:28:41,880 --> 00:28:45,040 Speaker 1: the early fifteenth century, which may itself have been borrowed 417 00:28:45,080 --> 00:28:48,520 Speaker 1: from the Latin word muso, but we don't know what 418 00:28:48,560 --> 00:28:52,040 Speaker 1: that means. Apparently It might just mean mushroom. It might 419 00:28:52,080 --> 00:28:56,680 Speaker 1: just be a label for Hey, that thing mushroom. I 420 00:28:56,720 --> 00:28:59,240 Speaker 1: love it. It could be this word, and we don't 421 00:28:59,240 --> 00:29:04,160 Speaker 1: know which it means. I love this too. In the 422 00:29:04,160 --> 00:29:08,280 Speaker 1: eighteenth century, Voltaire wrote a dish of mushrooms changed the 423 00:29:08,360 --> 00:29:13,760 Speaker 1: destiny of Europe. What. Yes, he was referring to the 424 00:29:13,920 --> 00:29:18,400 Speaker 1: seventy death of the Holy Roman Roman Emperor Charles the 425 00:29:18,560 --> 00:29:23,680 Speaker 1: six The death cap mushroom was and is thought to 426 00:29:23,720 --> 00:29:26,160 Speaker 1: be the culprit of his demise, and in the wake 427 00:29:26,200 --> 00:29:30,280 Speaker 1: of it came the War of Austrian succession. Half a 428 00:29:30,320 --> 00:29:33,160 Speaker 1: death cap is toxic enough to kill a grown human. 429 00:29:33,640 --> 00:29:36,680 Speaker 1: Cooking does not reduce the toxicity, and they look like 430 00:29:36,760 --> 00:29:41,520 Speaker 1: other mushrooms you can eat, So look out. Do not 431 00:29:41,840 --> 00:29:44,239 Speaker 1: eat mushrooms that you find in the wild, unless you 432 00:29:44,280 --> 00:29:47,440 Speaker 1: are an absolute expert in not dying from eating mushrooms 433 00:29:47,440 --> 00:29:49,760 Speaker 1: that you have found in the wild. More more on 434 00:29:49,880 --> 00:29:53,880 Speaker 1: that later. But where still lived by? Yes, just wanted 435 00:29:53,880 --> 00:29:55,719 Speaker 1: to put it in here now in case, for some 436 00:29:55,760 --> 00:30:01,160 Speaker 1: reason you stop listening to this episode. Hey, to go outside, 437 00:30:01,640 --> 00:30:04,920 Speaker 1: see if I can find some mushrooms. Now, So that's 438 00:30:05,000 --> 00:30:08,400 Speaker 1: mushrooms in Europe and Asia. But what about mushrooms in 439 00:30:08,520 --> 00:30:12,360 Speaker 1: the US. M hmm, well, we'll tell you all about 440 00:30:12,360 --> 00:30:14,360 Speaker 1: it after one last quick break for a word from 441 00:30:14,400 --> 00:30:28,120 Speaker 1: our sponsor, and we're back, Thank you sponsor. So it 442 00:30:28,200 --> 00:30:32,040 Speaker 1: took a minute for America to start using mushrooms like 443 00:30:32,160 --> 00:30:36,200 Speaker 1: cooking wise specifically, and actually at first they were mostly 444 00:30:36,320 --> 00:30:38,360 Speaker 1: used in those recipes we talked about in the catchup 445 00:30:38,360 --> 00:30:42,320 Speaker 1: episode and condiment type recipes. Yes. Uh, this could be 446 00:30:42,320 --> 00:30:45,240 Speaker 1: because a lot of cookbooks available at the time warned 447 00:30:45,760 --> 00:30:49,480 Speaker 1: that some mushrooms were quote very poisonous, but didn't really 448 00:30:49,480 --> 00:30:52,400 Speaker 1: give any clarification on which ones that would keep me 449 00:30:52,440 --> 00:30:55,440 Speaker 1: away from them as well. However, once France got a 450 00:30:55,520 --> 00:30:59,880 Speaker 1: handle on mushroom cultivation in the seventies, America wanted to 451 00:31:00,120 --> 00:31:05,560 Speaker 1: emulates their cuisine, and we were all about some mushrooms 452 00:31:05,560 --> 00:31:08,520 Speaker 1: by the eighteen nineties, wonderfully called by some sources a 453 00:31:08,640 --> 00:31:13,280 Speaker 1: fungus frenzy, they became a bit of a fad. One 454 00:31:13,400 --> 00:31:18,080 Speaker 1: might join a mushrooming club. I would join a mushrooming club. 455 00:31:19,000 --> 00:31:21,440 Speaker 1: Info on recognizing mushroom types and how to cook them 456 00:31:21,600 --> 00:31:25,040 Speaker 1: was published to help Americans understand and utilize this new 457 00:31:25,080 --> 00:31:31,000 Speaker 1: to them ingredients. An entire cookbook devoted to mushroom recipes 458 00:31:31,080 --> 00:31:37,080 Speaker 1: was published in eight The forward reads the general opinion 459 00:31:37,160 --> 00:31:40,400 Speaker 1: in this country regarding mushrooms has been that, with one 460 00:31:40,640 --> 00:31:44,320 Speaker 1: or two exceptions, all forms of fungus growth are either 461 00:31:44,800 --> 00:31:49,360 Speaker 1: poisonous or unwholesome. Unwholesome, but it is very gratifying to 462 00:31:49,440 --> 00:31:51,840 Speaker 1: observe the change that is rapidly taking place in the 463 00:31:51,880 --> 00:31:55,640 Speaker 1: public mind. Soon public opinion will acknowledge that it is 464 00:31:55,680 --> 00:31:59,880 Speaker 1: an established fact that the great majority of the larger funguses, 465 00:32:00,480 --> 00:32:03,640 Speaker 1: especially of those that grow in fields and other open places, 466 00:32:03,840 --> 00:32:09,200 Speaker 1: is not only wholesome, but highly nutritious. Highly nutritious. As 467 00:32:09,280 --> 00:32:13,280 Speaker 1: mushrooms were catching on in the US, shuffle demand was skyrocketing. 468 00:32:13,280 --> 00:32:17,960 Speaker 1: In France, the demand and the price tripled up until 469 00:32:18,000 --> 00:32:21,720 Speaker 1: about this point. Mushroom spawn that that root like miceleum 470 00:32:21,840 --> 00:32:26,000 Speaker 1: system that mushrooms grow from, was collected from wild growing 471 00:32:26,280 --> 00:32:33,000 Speaker 1: specimen rather than grown like farmed purposefully, but in too 472 00:32:33,160 --> 00:32:37,080 Speaker 1: French scientists at the Pasteur Institute developed the first pure 473 00:32:37,160 --> 00:32:41,000 Speaker 1: culture spawn from spores they germinated in labs and grew 474 00:32:41,320 --> 00:32:46,720 Speaker 1: in sterile horse manure sterile horse I know right by 475 00:32:46,880 --> 00:32:50,000 Speaker 1: nine two a method for creating pure culture Spawn had 476 00:32:50,000 --> 00:32:52,959 Speaker 1: been published, and folks in the industry started working with 477 00:32:53,000 --> 00:32:56,840 Speaker 1: it to develop lots of different particular strains. In the 478 00:32:56,920 --> 00:32:59,880 Speaker 1: United States, one of the big players was Lambert's Americans 479 00:33:00,000 --> 00:33:02,840 Speaker 1: Bond Company. It's a great name for a company and 480 00:33:03,040 --> 00:33:08,400 Speaker 1: was marketing seven distinct pure strains of button mushrooms by seven. 481 00:33:08,760 --> 00:33:12,080 Speaker 1: They would move from Minnesota to Pennsylvania around nineteen fifteen, 482 00:33:12,760 --> 00:33:17,400 Speaker 1: which was the established heart of the American mushroom industry. Yes, 483 00:33:18,040 --> 00:33:22,880 Speaker 1: the ninety US Census listed five hundred sixteen mushroom cultivators 484 00:33:23,080 --> 00:33:27,000 Speaker 1: and three hundred and fifty were in Chester County, Pennsylvania. 485 00:33:27,680 --> 00:33:30,520 Speaker 1: Nineteen thirty was the same year that the Mushroom Growers 486 00:33:30,600 --> 00:33:35,040 Speaker 1: Cooperative Association was founded. Pennsylvania State University would later get 487 00:33:35,080 --> 00:33:38,760 Speaker 1: in the game, researching ways from mushroom growers to increase productivity. 488 00:33:39,280 --> 00:33:41,920 Speaker 1: One of the inventions out of penn State was mushroom 489 00:33:42,200 --> 00:33:47,239 Speaker 1: spawn grown with grain instead of manure. Chester County is 490 00:33:47,280 --> 00:33:51,600 Speaker 1: also home to the American Mushroom Institute, the first meeting 491 00:33:51,600 --> 00:33:56,840 Speaker 1: of which took place on December four nine. Bad timing, 492 00:33:57,400 --> 00:34:01,320 Speaker 1: but after World War Two they started doing everything they 493 00:34:01,320 --> 00:34:07,080 Speaker 1: could to promote mushrooms. Ads and TV, radio, newspaper magazine. Meanwhile, 494 00:34:07,240 --> 00:34:12,120 Speaker 1: some of these uh culture spawn companies were having a 495 00:34:12,200 --> 00:34:17,840 Speaker 1: direct hand in the growing antibiotic industry because of the 496 00:34:18,160 --> 00:34:21,080 Speaker 1: because of the development of penicillin, these companies already were 497 00:34:21,080 --> 00:34:24,040 Speaker 1: working with fungus in labs, and so therefore they were 498 00:34:24,080 --> 00:34:27,919 Speaker 1: able to help the medical industry create all of these 499 00:34:28,000 --> 00:34:33,200 Speaker 1: new curatives. Cool In the nineteen sixties, the production of 500 00:34:33,239 --> 00:34:37,440 Speaker 1: grain based spawn was further developed into essentially the process 501 00:34:37,520 --> 00:34:41,680 Speaker 1: that's used today. And this artificial manure can be more 502 00:34:41,760 --> 00:34:47,160 Speaker 1: nutritionally complete than natural manure, could provide better natural structures 503 00:34:47,200 --> 00:34:51,120 Speaker 1: for the growing fungus, and most importantly, is more easy 504 00:34:51,160 --> 00:34:57,040 Speaker 1: to scale up industrially than a natural manure. I could 505 00:34:57,040 --> 00:35:00,040 Speaker 1: see that artificial manure the phrase that I never I 506 00:35:00,160 --> 00:35:03,680 Speaker 1: thought I would be saying out loud or even to myself. 507 00:35:03,680 --> 00:35:07,520 Speaker 1: That's just I had not conceived of that phrase. Well, 508 00:35:07,760 --> 00:35:13,640 Speaker 1: making dreams come true on this podcast. From one to six, 509 00:35:13,719 --> 00:35:18,360 Speaker 1: there was a seventy three point six percent increase in 510 00:35:18,440 --> 00:35:23,439 Speaker 1: mushroom protection. Yeah. In the nineteen eighties, The New York 511 00:35:23,480 --> 00:35:27,240 Speaker 1: Times is the first to write about kremini and portobello mushrooms, 512 00:35:27,280 --> 00:35:30,560 Speaker 1: both of which got a boost from some serious marketing power. 513 00:35:31,080 --> 00:35:34,840 Speaker 1: Previous to this the Portobello, which wasn't called the portobello, 514 00:35:34,920 --> 00:35:38,239 Speaker 1: and it's actually just an adult cremini, which is an 515 00:35:38,280 --> 00:35:44,080 Speaker 1: adult white button mushroom. Yes, we need to make it charted. Um. 516 00:35:44,120 --> 00:35:46,560 Speaker 1: It was a hard sell to the American public and 517 00:35:46,600 --> 00:35:50,000 Speaker 1: generally ended up getting tossed. Farmers didn't like them either. 518 00:35:50,160 --> 00:35:52,480 Speaker 1: One guy who grew them almost got fired by his 519 00:35:52,600 --> 00:35:57,719 Speaker 1: boss just for growing them. So marketers changed the name 520 00:35:57,960 --> 00:36:02,000 Speaker 1: to Portobello and it went from zero twohero no sales 521 00:36:02,040 --> 00:36:06,360 Speaker 1: to thirty million pounds in And this is one of 522 00:36:06,400 --> 00:36:09,120 Speaker 1: my favorite facts of the episode. No one is sure 523 00:36:09,120 --> 00:36:12,000 Speaker 1: where the name comes from, but the popular story is 524 00:36:12,120 --> 00:36:14,839 Speaker 1: some ads person made it up by coming up by 525 00:36:14,840 --> 00:36:18,120 Speaker 1: combining the words for beautiful and door, the Italian words 526 00:36:18,600 --> 00:36:23,760 Speaker 1: or depending on the spelling, beautiful ports. But the portobello 527 00:36:23,840 --> 00:36:28,320 Speaker 1: mushroom has no agreed upon spelling. What Yeah, it's a mushroom, 528 00:36:28,400 --> 00:36:32,960 Speaker 1: chaos it is. I was staring at my computer furiously 529 00:36:33,000 --> 00:36:35,200 Speaker 1: as if it could give me answers. You're telling me 530 00:36:36,239 --> 00:36:39,480 Speaker 1: if I was in a spelling bee. There are multiple answers. 531 00:36:40,320 --> 00:36:44,360 Speaker 1: I think there's four four different spellings that people use. Goodness, 532 00:36:45,160 --> 00:36:50,120 Speaker 1: get get, get your stuff together Portobello. See you said, 533 00:36:50,600 --> 00:36:55,680 Speaker 1: I said, Oh, if my braid cannot grapple with this, 534 00:36:56,480 --> 00:36:59,239 Speaker 1: it's gonna be okay, all right, okay, I'm out right, 535 00:36:59,520 --> 00:37:04,520 Speaker 1: um are you no? But I'll put on a brave face. Okay, 536 00:37:04,560 --> 00:37:09,239 Speaker 1: all right, um. In legislation was submitted to Congress in 537 00:37:09,280 --> 00:37:12,560 Speaker 1: the United States to create better marketing for for the 538 00:37:12,600 --> 00:37:18,400 Speaker 1: increasingly valuable mushroom industry, the Mushroom Promotion, Research and Consumer 539 00:37:18,440 --> 00:37:23,640 Speaker 1: Information Act. That is quite the title. This act eventually spawned, 540 00:37:24,400 --> 00:37:28,399 Speaker 1: uh sorry, the Mushroom Council, an organization that pulls funds 541 00:37:28,440 --> 00:37:31,920 Speaker 1: from mushroom producers and uses those funds to promote mushrooms 542 00:37:31,960 --> 00:37:35,399 Speaker 1: generically and if I may quote from their website because 543 00:37:35,440 --> 00:37:39,880 Speaker 1: I'm kind of delighted by marketing verbiage. Many different venues 544 00:37:39,920 --> 00:37:42,960 Speaker 1: are used to promote fresh mushrooms to consumers, such as 545 00:37:43,000 --> 00:37:46,000 Speaker 1: working with professional chefs and developing and promoting new recipes, 546 00:37:46,239 --> 00:37:49,440 Speaker 1: working with produced department managers to maintain the highest quality 547 00:37:49,480 --> 00:37:52,800 Speaker 1: mushroom product for customers, and sending out thousands of psures 548 00:37:52,840 --> 00:37:56,479 Speaker 1: each year to customers hungry for new mushroom ideas. Thanks 549 00:37:56,520 --> 00:37:59,000 Speaker 1: to the Mushroom Council, mushrooms have their own month to 550 00:37:59,040 --> 00:38:02,719 Speaker 1: be honored and eat in. September is National Mushroom Month, 551 00:38:05,360 --> 00:38:11,799 Speaker 1: National Mushroom, National mushroom. Yeah, mush mushroom, mush all of that. 552 00:38:12,120 --> 00:38:15,440 Speaker 1: One of their current promotions is called the Blend. It 553 00:38:15,560 --> 00:38:18,480 Speaker 1: encourages food service industry folks to try blending ground meat 554 00:38:18,520 --> 00:38:21,319 Speaker 1: with ground mushrooms for products like tacos and meatballs to 555 00:38:21,440 --> 00:38:26,000 Speaker 1: save money and calories. Oh I see. And in the 556 00:38:26,040 --> 00:38:29,680 Speaker 1: two thousands, a research at a Penn State demonstrated that 557 00:38:29,719 --> 00:38:33,800 Speaker 1: growers can increase one form of vitamin D that vitamin 558 00:38:33,840 --> 00:38:37,040 Speaker 1: D two in their mushrooms by subjecting the growing fungus 559 00:38:37,080 --> 00:38:41,120 Speaker 1: to bursts of UV radiation, thus making their products such 560 00:38:41,120 --> 00:38:43,680 Speaker 1: a good choice for vegetarians who would otherwise miss out 561 00:38:43,760 --> 00:38:46,800 Speaker 1: on this nutrient through their diet. It's really only found 562 00:38:46,800 --> 00:38:49,680 Speaker 1: in meat other than mushrooms that have been exposed to 563 00:38:50,040 --> 00:38:53,560 Speaker 1: UV radiation. Um, and it's different from vitamin D three, 564 00:38:53,800 --> 00:38:56,440 Speaker 1: which is the one that our bodies produced from sunlight 565 00:38:56,480 --> 00:39:02,160 Speaker 1: exposure to the skin. So yeah, I imagine the Mushroom 566 00:39:02,200 --> 00:39:07,880 Speaker 1: Council as like a bunch of toads from Mario sitting 567 00:39:07,880 --> 00:39:12,319 Speaker 1: around this round table and talking about whether, like what 568 00:39:12,360 --> 00:39:15,520 Speaker 1: type of mushroom they need to promote. Next. Well, there there, 569 00:39:15,520 --> 00:39:19,840 Speaker 1: there are. There are nine council members. I can't Oh 570 00:39:19,920 --> 00:39:23,040 Speaker 1: my goodness, I think we've stumbled onto something here, Lauren, 571 00:39:23,920 --> 00:39:27,040 Speaker 1: does anyone have any pictures of these council members? M 572 00:39:27,520 --> 00:39:31,160 Speaker 1: m m. Well, we'll put a pin to come back 573 00:39:31,160 --> 00:39:36,320 Speaker 1: to that later. For now, let's talk about the environment. Yeah. 574 00:39:36,360 --> 00:39:39,400 Speaker 1: One of the cool things about mushroom farming is that 575 00:39:39,480 --> 00:39:42,080 Speaker 1: it can be a really great way to put agricultural 576 00:39:42,160 --> 00:39:44,600 Speaker 1: waste to use instead of having to dump it or 577 00:39:44,640 --> 00:39:47,080 Speaker 1: burn it. I mean, of course, mushrooms do leave some 578 00:39:47,160 --> 00:39:50,600 Speaker 1: waste themselves. They don't like, completely destroy anything that you 579 00:39:50,600 --> 00:39:54,080 Speaker 1: put in their path. That's a different horror movie entirely. Yeah. 580 00:39:54,440 --> 00:39:59,560 Speaker 1: Um and industry researchers recently coined the term micro restoration, 581 00:40:00,560 --> 00:40:05,240 Speaker 1: meaning of using mushrooms greater fungal structures to help restore 582 00:40:05,280 --> 00:40:09,080 Speaker 1: damaged environments by filtering talksic waste and microorganisms from the 583 00:40:09,080 --> 00:40:12,879 Speaker 1: soil or the air, by controlling insect populations, or by 584 00:40:13,040 --> 00:40:18,160 Speaker 1: just creating more nutrients for plant life. H Well, now 585 00:40:18,200 --> 00:40:21,040 Speaker 1: you might be thinking these mushroom things sound pretty cool. 586 00:40:21,600 --> 00:40:24,799 Speaker 1: Maybe I'll let's go out. Let's go ahead and get 587 00:40:24,840 --> 00:40:28,280 Speaker 1: some right now, let's go full from the ground. Hold 588 00:40:28,360 --> 00:40:32,359 Speaker 1: up a minute. So you might have heard a thing 589 00:40:32,400 --> 00:40:35,399 Speaker 1: or two recently about mushroom foraging. I know it has 590 00:40:35,440 --> 00:40:38,279 Speaker 1: come up several times around the office here when we 591 00:40:38,280 --> 00:40:41,280 Speaker 1: were discussing videos we could do for food stuff. Apparently 592 00:40:41,280 --> 00:40:44,879 Speaker 1: there's a big group in Atlanta that, yes, and it's 593 00:40:44,920 --> 00:40:48,000 Speaker 1: this thing where people sometimes in groups are as part 594 00:40:48,000 --> 00:40:51,840 Speaker 1: of mushroom clubs, go out and look for edible mushrooms 595 00:40:51,840 --> 00:40:55,000 Speaker 1: and cities in the woods, in the backyard wherever. Um. 596 00:40:55,040 --> 00:40:58,040 Speaker 1: I feel like it's gotten pretty popular over the past 597 00:40:58,080 --> 00:41:01,240 Speaker 1: couple of years. But this is not something you should 598 00:41:01,239 --> 00:41:03,919 Speaker 1: just pick up. Um. You need to be informed about 599 00:41:03,920 --> 00:41:09,080 Speaker 1: the mushrooms in your area, really informed. Yes, if this 600 00:41:09,120 --> 00:41:12,319 Speaker 1: is something you're interested in, totally pursue it. See if 601 00:41:12,320 --> 00:41:14,360 Speaker 1: there's a club or a my cologists in your area. 602 00:41:14,400 --> 00:41:17,240 Speaker 1: But do not do this just looking at your phone 603 00:41:17,280 --> 00:41:19,120 Speaker 1: like this is like this mushroom here, I think I 604 00:41:19,120 --> 00:41:21,400 Speaker 1: can eat it. No, no, no no, no, because some some 605 00:41:21,480 --> 00:41:24,359 Speaker 1: things that look like little harmless white button mushrooms will 606 00:41:24,480 --> 00:41:28,280 Speaker 1: kill you. Yes, So don't do that. It is dangerous. Um. 607 00:41:28,400 --> 00:41:31,200 Speaker 1: There are several when I was looking into this, there 608 00:41:31,200 --> 00:41:33,840 Speaker 1: are several that look like kinds that you can't eat, 609 00:41:33,880 --> 00:41:38,759 Speaker 1: that you cannot eat. Um. So I mean, if you're 610 00:41:38,760 --> 00:41:41,000 Speaker 1: just looking at picking them up, I don't know, I 611 00:41:41,040 --> 00:41:42,279 Speaker 1: don't know. You just want to you just want to 612 00:41:42,320 --> 00:41:44,120 Speaker 1: find them, If you just want to like poke them, Yeah, 613 00:41:44,239 --> 00:41:47,520 Speaker 1: that's fine. But you're planning on eating them, Yeah, take 614 00:41:47,560 --> 00:41:51,560 Speaker 1: percaution because if you're asking yourself if there's a way 615 00:41:51,560 --> 00:41:56,040 Speaker 1: to tell if a mushroom is poisonous, no, nope, unless 616 00:41:56,040 --> 00:41:59,239 Speaker 1: you're on beyond the shadow of a shadow of a doubt, 617 00:41:59,440 --> 00:42:03,600 Speaker 1: you know what you're new doing. Don't eat a strange mushroom. Further, Yeah, 618 00:42:03,680 --> 00:42:06,759 Speaker 1: a lot of anecdotal rules about the mushrooms you can 619 00:42:06,800 --> 00:42:13,160 Speaker 1: and cannot eat are not true. So yeah, no, I 620 00:42:13,200 --> 00:42:15,840 Speaker 1: love this. I don't know if it's true, but according 621 00:42:15,880 --> 00:42:17,399 Speaker 1: to some things that are out on the internet, there's 622 00:42:17,440 --> 00:42:21,200 Speaker 1: an adage out of the Czech Republic saying that goes 623 00:42:21,840 --> 00:42:26,280 Speaker 1: every mushroom is edible, but some only ones. It sounds 624 00:42:26,280 --> 00:42:33,719 Speaker 1: like something my dad would say, and that brings us 625 00:42:33,719 --> 00:42:36,279 Speaker 1: to the end of this classic episode. We hope that 626 00:42:36,320 --> 00:42:38,680 Speaker 1: you enjoyed it as much as we enjoyed doing it 627 00:42:38,760 --> 00:42:43,800 Speaker 1: and revisiting it, and very much are excited about delving 628 00:42:43,800 --> 00:42:49,920 Speaker 1: into these these mushroom news stories. Oh yes, yes, But 629 00:42:50,080 --> 00:42:51,840 Speaker 1: in the meanwhile, if you would like to get in 630 00:42:51,880 --> 00:42:55,320 Speaker 1: touch with us, you can yes and send does any 631 00:42:55,360 --> 00:42:57,759 Speaker 1: any mushroom news stories you think we should cover or 632 00:42:57,880 --> 00:43:03,239 Speaker 1: anything in that realm? Yes, you can email us. Our 633 00:43:03,360 --> 00:43:06,120 Speaker 1: email is hello at favorite pod dot com. So we're 634 00:43:06,160 --> 00:43:09,239 Speaker 1: also on social media. You can find us on Twitter, Facebook, 635 00:43:09,239 --> 00:43:11,640 Speaker 1: and Instagram at Saber pod and we do hope to 636 00:43:11,680 --> 00:43:14,080 Speaker 1: hear from you. Saber is production of I Heart Radio 637 00:43:14,200 --> 00:43:16,319 Speaker 1: four more podcasts from our heart Radio. You can visit 638 00:43:16,360 --> 00:43:19,000 Speaker 1: the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you 639 00:43:19,040 --> 00:43:21,440 Speaker 1: listen to your favorite shows. Thanks as always to our 640 00:43:21,520 --> 00:43:24,400 Speaker 1: super producers Dylan Fagan and Andrew Howard. Thanks to you 641 00:43:24,400 --> 00:43:26,239 Speaker 1: for listening, and we hope that lots more good things 642 00:43:26,239 --> 00:43:34,800 Speaker 1: are coming your way