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Weekend Food Facts & Tips: The Mighty Mushroom - Health benefits of white button mushrooms

2008-10-04 15:05:04 (GMT) (Caymanmama.com - Education News Food News)

The Mighty Mushroom

Dallas, Texas (CaymanMama.com) — Mushrooms are underrated. Although they come in a vast variety of different types, sizes, colors and flavors, mushrooms have never been one of the first foods on the list of healthy ingredients for a strong body and mind. Until now.

Dieters can often find themselves in a rut walking aimlessly around the produce department hunting for anything other than a tomato or spinach for a healthy dinner. One of the simplest ways to spice up any salad, soup or stir-fry is to toss in a handful of white button mushrooms (which are inexpensive and available year-round), suggests new research in the Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture.

Lead study author Jean-Michel Savoie, Ph.D., from the Institut National de la Recherche Agrinomique, a governmental research institute in France said, “White button mushrooms seem to have as much antioxidant properties [and in some cases more than] as other mushrooms, including [pricy] maitake and white matsutake.”

All types of mushrooms provide some health benefit by containing such essential nutrients as potassium, copper and niacin. Because of that fact, you won’t need to go so special health food stores to find exotic, expensive kinds of these wonderful, nutritional mushrooms.

Rich Mushroom Soup - Courtesy of Cooking Light

This smooth and satisfying soup can also be made with 2% milk rather than 1% and half-and-half. Any combination of fresh mushrooms works just fine.

Yield servings (serving size: 1 cup)

Ingredients
* 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
* 1 cup boiling water
* 1 cup dried porcini mushrooms (about 1 ounce)
* 2 teaspoons butter
* 1 1/2 cups chopped onion
* 2 teaspoons chopped garlic
* 2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh thyme
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
* 6 1/2 cups thinly sliced shiitake mushroom caps (about 1 pound mushrooms)
* 2 (8-ounce) packages presliced button mushrooms
* 4 cups fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
* 1 cup 1% low-fat milk
* 1/2 cup half-and-half
* 1/4 cup dry sherry
* Chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley (optional)

Preparation

Place flour in a small skillet over medium-high heat; cook 2 minutes or until flour turns light brown, stirring constantly. Transfer the flour to a small plate; cool.

Combine boiling water and porcini mushrooms in a bowl; cover and let steep 20 minutes. Strain porcini mushrooms through a sieve over a bowl, reserving the soaking liquid. Chop the mushrooms.

Melt butter in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add onion; sauté 5 minutes or until tender. Add garlic, thyme, salt, and pepper; sauté 30 seconds. Add shiitake mushrooms; cook 3 minutes, stirring constantly. Add button mushrooms; cook 3 minutes, stirring constantly. Add chopped porcini mushrooms and broth to pan.

Combine reserved porcini soaking liquid with toasted flour, stirring with a whisk, and add to pan. Bring to a boil; reduce heat, and simmer, uncovered, for 15 minutes. Add milk; simmer 10 minutes, stirring frequently. Remove from heat; stir in half-and-half and sherry. Place 2 cups soup in a blender; process until smooth. Return pureed soup to pan. Warm soup over low heat for 5 minutes or until thoroughly heated. Divide soup among each of 8 bowls, and sprinkle with parsley, if desired.
Nutritional Information

Calories: 114 (24% from fat)
Fat: 3.1g (sat 1.8g,mono 0.9g,poly 0.1g)
Protein: 7.1g
Carbohydrate: 13.3g
Fiber: 1.9g
Cholesterol: 11mg
Iron: 1.9mg
Sodium: 341mg
Calcium: 72mg



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