What’s so great about mushrooms?  If you are a mushroom lover then you already know the answer, but if you only have a passing acquaintance with fungus we will tell you in a word: “umami” ...

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Umami is the flavor of “savory” that you experience when eating rich meaty foods.  Humans are programed to enjoy the savory flavor since it signals a high calorie content, but modern humans don’t really need taste signals to understand which foods will have a large caloric content.  Mushrooms give you all that savory punch, with essentially no calories.  They also have a wide variety of flavor and texture profiles from strong to mild, flaky to meaty.  This means that they do anything from enhancing your favorite pasta sauce, to serving as a meat substitute for a main course.  Recently, we are starting to realize that there may be other health benefits associated with some mushrooms like Lion’s Mane, Shiitake, Reishi, Turkey Tail, and Cordyceps to name a few.