"Intelligent" slime moulds

This short video shows the uncanny ability of a slime mould to solve mazes. Strictly speaking, slime moulds do not belong to the kingdom of fungi, so I hesitated at first whether I should write about them at all. They were however once classified as fungi because some of them propagate by spores and form fruitbodies. So, for the purposes of the blog, they can be regarded as honorary fungi, and I'll leave it at that.

Slime moulds solve mazes by following a simple stimulus-response system based on chemical signals, so their "intelligence" is very similar to that of an anthill or a beehive. It is lots of dumb elements following a few simple rules, resulting in very complicated behaviour and powerful problem-solving ability. I just wish it'd work for activity known as "Friday night"...

Enjoy the video, and Friday, and I'll be back next week!

Good news from Vienna - biofuel breakthrough

Trichoderma harzianum under
the microscope

When people think about fungi, they tend to regard them, first and foremost, as food. This is justified to some extent since historically fungi had little more to offer, except perhaps their beauty (or, indeed, ugliness) that was captured in art from medieval times to our days. This is a fascinating topic in itself, and I will surely return to it in another post, but today I wanted to write about the uses of fungi that have become available with modern technology.

In a previous post I looked at an article that presented fungi as an alternative to plastics, in the form of either biodegradable packaging or insulation material. It seems like there is currently a trend for engineers and scientists to explore the possibilities for non-food uses of fungi, as this week there was another news item, this time from the University of Vienna, reporting their success for synthesising biofuel from cellulose with the aid of a fungus of the Trichoderma genus.

Rather expensive biofuel

Biofuel can be easily produced from starchy plants, but this puts its production in competition with growing these plants for food. Cellulose, on the other hand, is present in common waste products like straw and sawdust and seems like a much better alternative. Unfortunately, breaking it down into small sugar molecules that can be subsequently turned into spirits requires special biologically active substances called enzymes. Microscopic Trichoderma fungi can produce these enzymes, but only when yet another special substance, inductor, is present. And here we have a problem: this inductor is 60 times more expensive than gold, which makes the resulting spirit cost about the same as 10-year-old Laphroaig. You wouldn't fuel your car with that if you have any financial sense.

Luckily, the researchers came across a strain of the fungus with a mutation that kept the switch for the enzyme in permanent "on" position, removing the need for the inductor. Such fungus could not have survived in the wild as it would be equivalent to a bird that keeps laying eggs non-stop. Yay, a domesticated fungus! Not a chanterelle sadly, but it's a good start. Subsequent genetic analysis isolated the responsible gene, which allowed to understand the mechanism for the molecular switch, and - voila!  - it seems like we are one step closer to averting the impending oil crisis, and that is very good news indeed.

Full text of the article can be found on the Science Daily web site.

Image credits:
Trichoderma mycelium
Laphroaig distillery

Concerning chanterelles

While I have yet to see this year's first chanterelles, I thought I should present them properly, since in the coming months I am planning to devote quite a few posts to their collection and cooking.

Golden chanterelles, C. cibarius

Golden chanterelle (Cantharellus cibarius) is one of the easiest fungi to identify: its yolky colour and absence of true gills clearly distinguish it from similar species such as false chanterelle (Hygrophoropsis aurantiaca) and jack-o-lantern (Omphalotus olearius). Even if a mistake is made, false chanterelle is not poisonous but merely inedible, and jack-o-lantern's effects are not fatal, although extremely unpleasant. Also, the latter is very rare in the UK and as far as I am aware non-existent in Scotland. There was a news report a few years ago that someone died from eating deadly webcaps, Cortinarius rubellus, thinking that they were chanterelles, but come on, it is like mixing up white button mushrooms with shiitakes. If your attention to detail is that bad, foraging for wild mushrooms should not be on your list of possible weekend activities in the first place.

Deadly webcaps - not at all alike

Chanterelles are to be found in Scottish forests from May to October, they usually grow in large groups, so just one good spot is enough to fill a basket. I find that it is best not to clean them if they are not to be used immediately, but just shake off the slugs and put the mushrooms into the fridge in plastic containers, to be washed and cleaned right before cooking. If picked on a dry day, they will keep for a week or more. Unfortunately, this species does not lend itself well to preservation, as drying them ruins the texture, and freezing makes larger specimens bitter. It's best to cook them fresh.

As for their culinary use, chanterelles do great in sauces, stews and even salads. However, in my opinion, their unique flavour is at its best when they are combined with beaten eggs. Even a handful of them in an omelette makes for an extraordinary dish, and if you have enough for a quiche, this will take you straight to heaven. Metaphorically. Chanterelles are safe to eat even raw.

Despite many attempts at cultivation, chanterelles have so far evaded domestication. In 1997 an article in Nature, "Successful cultivation of the golden chanterelle" described a process by which fruitbodies were obtained from under 16-month old pine seedlings, suddenly giving hope to all chanterelle fans. Sadly, it was just a lucky fluke because the authors in the end failed to create conditions for consistent appearance of fruitbodies, and all chanterelles that are sold in grocery shops and supermarkets these days are collected in the wild.

Image credits:
Cantharellus cibarius
Cortinarius rubellus

Exotic mushroom sauce

Ingredients

Today's post, as promised, is a cooking report. This recipe is one of my favourites, because it works with any mushrooms. However, as mentioned in the previous post, it is especially great with firm-textured mushrooms that have strong flavour, and this time I had plenty of those!

Ingredients:

125g exotic mushrooms (mixture of yellow oyster, pink oyster and shimeji)
100g Scotch bonnet mushrooms
several shallots
a few garlic cloves

After adding the white wine

1 tablespoon of olive oil
glass of white wine
glass of double cream
bay leaf and peppercorns, salt

Method:

Heat the olive oil in a frying pan and add mushrooms and chopped shallots. Cook on medium high heat stirring frequently until shallots begin to soften. Add chopped garlic, bay leaf and peppercorns, keep stirring. After a minute or so pour in the wine.

Almost ready!

Increase heat to the maximum and wait for liquid to reduce by half. Transfer the mixture to a saucepan, stir in the cream, add salt if needed. Bring to the boil, then cover with lid, reduce the heat to the minimum and cook for a further 15-20 minutes. Turn off the heat and let the covered pot stand for 5 minutes or so. Serve with rice or pasta and green salad. It is best to eat it straight away, but it is also ok to reheat it the next day, or even use it as cold spread on toast.

The recipe will serve 2-3, if you need to feed more, just double the ingredients. Enjoy, and see you tomorrow!

Mushroom quest 2013: continued

Not for eating! Pretty display though.

My Sunday trip to woodland brought yet another disappointment. No matter how hard I looked, no fungi presented themselves even to be photographed, let alone to be collected and eaten. Obviously, the recent warmth has not been enough. I've seen a report on the news that flowering season for bluebells was 4-5 weeks late this year. Does this mean that I'd have to wait for the first chanterelles till the end of June? I hope not!

Scotch bonnets! Oh, wait...

Despite my walk in the woods being a total flop (the magnificent display of wild flowers carpeting the forest floor doesn't count, does it?), I did get a couple of consolation prizes on my way home. Walking down the street I spotted two flower containers with features that were clearly not intended in the original planting design. At first I thought that my first find was a group of St George's mushrooms, but on closer inspection they turned out to be, most likely, some species of Inocybe. The second one at a first glance looked like Scotch bonnets (there was even dead wood present!), but the gills were all wrong, so I reluctantly had to identify them as LBMs*. Trip result: basket=0, camera=2. An improvement on the first attempt, but still not good enough.

Luckily, the supermarket was not too far away, so I consoled myself with buying a pack of exotic mushrooms, consisting of yellow and pink oyster mushrooms and shimeji. Firm texture, strong flavour... I think I know the perfect recipe to make these stand out. So it is decided: tomorrow - cooking report!
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* Little Brown Mushrooms