Comment by kaycebasques | Hacker News Reader

Comment by kaycebasques | Hacker News Reader

I've been going deep into a mycology rabbit hole the last few weeks. I had an "aha!" moment when I realized that there are many edible mushrooms that don't require much sunlight. It's obvious in hindsight but I was still thinking of fungus from a plant-centric worldview: they're kinda plantlike and therefore kinda need sun. But they don't. Many (all?) of them get their sustenance by breaking down whatever complex chemicals they find in their physical proximity. Sunlight doesn't need to factor into the equation much at all. So long as they have a rich substrate full of nutrients some will happily grow in a closet. Again pardon if this is painfully obvious but it was an "oh wow" moment for me. I'm personally going to start with oyster mushrooms because they seem to be somewhat superheroic at their ability to break down stuff (even incredibly toxic stuff).

Also like I said I'm new to all this so anything and everything I've said can be wrong. This is just the general gist I've gotten so far.

If you have not run across it yet, there is a fairly good video set "Let's Grow Mushrooms!" by Marc R Keith [1]. Don't be put off by the intro that suggests you can grow magical varieties. This video series is focused on basic techniques needed for growing mushrooms as well as some practical techniques for growing oysters.

[1] https://www.mushroomvideos.com/

I had a cool moment along these lines when observing my parents' garden. They were growing squash in garden soil, next to table mushrooms on wood chips with the idea being the table mushrooms would convert the wood chips into additional garden soil over time. The mycelium colonized all the wood chips, but the fruiting bodies came up predominantly where the substrate was shaded by squash leaves because that was the most humid part of the mushroom patch. A cool example of accidental companion planting!

From a food production standpoint, they are still fundamentally sun-powered.

Mushrooms are delicious, but their most interesting opportunity in the food supply might be vitamin D. Shine some UV on them, and they produce high levels just like people.

Yes I've heard that tip to leave mushrooms out in the sun for 20 minutes prior to eating to majorly boost their vitamin D content!

You may have heard this trope before but mushrooms are closer genetically to animals than plants.

Yeah they breathe in O2 and breathe out CO2, just like you and me.

So do plants at night.

And their protein is more usable by our digestive systems than plant proteins.

I thought they are mostly chitin?

Yes, that's correct.

This fact became viscerally true to me when I tried chanterelle for the first time a few days ago. Texture and flavor was so close to chicken that my partner and I (both vegans) had the weird uncomfortable sensation of accidentally eating meat!

When was the last time you had chicken? Personally I’d never confuse the two, although I do love chanterelles.

That said, I had some porcini inside of a ravioli where I thought I was eating part of a meatball that went with it (eg meat-like, compared to a meatball, versus actual unadulterated meat).

Admittedly it's been a few years but I have eaten quite a lot of chicken in my lifetime so I don't think it's a matter of me forgetting the experience of the real thing

Reminds me of the Matrix Tasty Wheat scene: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=2oEnJfZ9joY (63s long)

Try chicken of the woods. It's even more so in my opinion.

So much so. I wish it was easier to cultivate at home, it tastes just like chicken.

Wow, I don't think chanterelles taste anything like chicken. I've only had them a couple of times, but to be they have a really strong and complex flavor that is hard to describe. The texture is firm but not chewy, like many other kinds of mushrooms.

I guess it might depend on how you prepare it. To me, chanterelles are one of the mushrooms that should always be prepared without anything that might cover the taste exactly because it's so distinct it's be a massive waste. But if you cook it like some people cook chicken I can well imagine it'd wnd up tasting like chicken...

For the record we only cooked it in salted (vegan) butter because of the exact idea that we didn't want to obscure its taste with other spices etc.

Then I really don't understand how you'd find it similar to chicken. But given I eat chicken regularly I guess we pick up on different things.

Black pepper is the only other thing I'd usually use with chanterelles. Possibly cream. To not waste so much of it, sometimes I'll boil them a bit first, and let enough water boil off to pour the rest into a light cream sauce to add chantarelle taste to the sauce as well.

I tried some "beyond beef" the other day and thought it was nothing at all like beef. But maybe if you're vegan it's the closest alternate.

Would this be useful for space travel?

I just read [1] that scientists in 2007 [2] found a melanin-rich fungus in Chernobyl that thrives on ionizing radiation. The suggestion being that the species would grow excellent in space.

[1] Mycelium Running by Paul Stamets, end of chapter 7

[2] Ionizing radiation changes the electronic properties of melanin and enhances the growth of melanized fungi by Dadachova

Reply on news.ycombinator.com