| 153 | 154 | 155 | 156 | 157 |
| 1 | 103 | 205 | 308 | 410 |
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wait for a triggering action, like someone kicking the dried mushroom, to release them in a cloud
that scatters in the breeze over a wide area.
The exotics
Besides mild-flavored domestic button mushrooms, there are a huge number of good, edible
varieties that we only know from the wild. Though most defy domestication, there is more and more
success of growing them on mushroom farms. These are the exotic mushrooms. Prices are high,
though several varieties are readily available in larger supermarkets at almost any time of the year
since about the mid-1990s.
In European farmers' markets, wild exotic mushrooms are commonly available. A
government mushroom expert is even on site at many of these markets to inspect any wild
mushrooms for sale and approve their edibility. In North America there are strict regulations
controlling the selling of wild mushrooms to the public, yet they are available through mail-order
and are imported in dehydrated form at astronomic prices.
TASTINGS The first cultivation
Our common button mushroom cultivation (Agaricus bisporus) started in France
around 1650, predictably so, as the French cuisine has always used mushrooms
extensively. Their cultivation spread to England in 1831 and from there to the rest of
Europe. But in the Orient, mushroom cultivation is far more ancient and they are
able to grow some half a dozen different species.
Exotic mushroom growers depend heavily on the better class restaurants for sales. The
addition of a few pieces of these mushrooms to a dish justifies not only adding the mushroom's
colorful name to that menu item, but the a hefty price that appears next to that menu item, far more
than the cost of the mushroom itself. But these mushrooms do add excellent flavor and texture, too.
Below is a table that lists the exotic mushrooms, some common, others rarely available.
play © erdosh 155
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