Nutritional And Medicinal Values Of Mushrooms

Ingredients & additives

- M.J. Anitha Sri and G. Pandidurai

Introduction

Meeting the food demand for the increasing population from the limited land resource is a big challenge for our Indian democracy in this vulnerable climate change era. In addition to this, widespread malnutrition and associated diseases are more common among the economically poor population. This compels us to search for cheap alternative quality nutritional sources for our huge population. Non-green revolution otherwise referred as mushroom farming is one among the ways to meet this challenge because mushroom grow on wastes without requiring additional land besides its exceptional nutritional and medicinal properties.

Nutritional values of Mushrooms

Indian diet is primarily based on cereals (wheat, rice and maize), which is deficient in protein. Supplementation of mushroom recipe in Indian diet will bridge protein gap and improve the general health of socioeconomically backward communities. Earlier mushrooms were considered as an expensive vegetable and were preferred by affluent peoples for culinary purposes. Currently common populace also considers mushroom as a quality food due to its health benefits.