Microwave your mushrooms to retain antioxidants

[Anna N]

This article suggests that microwaving or grilling mushrooms helps retain their healthful properties. 

 

"These cooking methods significantly increase levels of antioxidants which protect cells against diseases, but boiling or frying reduces them."

Edited May 23, 2017 by Anna N
To add quote. (log)

[liuzhou]

Give it six months and we'll be told that only boiled mushrooms are edible. Who boils mushrooms?

 

I'll be cooking them with total disregard for this "study".

 

(I like them raw - well, the button mushies anyway.)

 

NOTE: When the article refers to "grilling" it is probably in the British sense. What you Americans call "broiling".

Edited May 23, 2017 by liuzhou (log)

[Chris Hennes]

I find the notion of microwaving mushrooms vaguely horrifying. I can live without the antioxidants. And I boil my mushrooms (I cook them using Dave Arnold's Wet and Crowded technique).

[gfweb]

As far as I know, no serious scientific study has found a benefit to humans from  antioxidants.

[Anna N]

 I feel as if I'm dodging bullets but I'm positive nobody is attempting to shoot the messenger.  

 I post such things because I find them interesting but not necessarily valid.  

 

I have never before dreamed of microwaving mushrooms but I'm willing to give it a shot not to preserve antioxidants but just to see what the texture and taste are like. 

 

 It never occurred to me to microwave nuts either until I was shown how evenly they are cooked in the microwave.  

[Dave the Cook]

15 hours ago, liuzhou said:

 Who boils mushrooms?

 

 

Well, Chris Hennes does, and so do I.

 

I feel bad, because (at least according to the abstract of the referenced study), part of the alleged nutrient loss might be ascribed to Maillard effects. After boiling, I sauté (fry) the mushrooms, making the wet-and-crowded method doubly destructive of nutrients.

 

On the other hand, they taste great.

 

[gfweb]

4 hours ago, Chris Hennes said:

I find the notion of microwaving mushrooms vaguely horrifying. I can live without the antioxidants. And I boil my mushrooms (I cook them using Dave Arnold's Wet and Crowded technique).

What's the benefit of boiling?

[Anna N]

8 minutes ago, gfweb said:

What's the benefit of boiling?

Click

[chefmd]

If you pair mushrooms cooked according to your favorite method with a glass of red wine, you do not need to worry about antioxidants.

[dcarch]

OK, I am convinced.

 

I will be microwaving my 16 OZ of white truffles for dinner tonight. We all need lots of antioxidants. Who cares about flavor. Right?

 

dcarch

[Thanks for the Crepes]

I don't think I will be nuking my mushrooms, not even as an experiment. Okay, maybe one to see what it's like.

 

On the other hand, I'd fried up some bacon the other day to go with homemade blueberry pancakes from the freezer and some fruit. At the last minute, I was looking at the bacon grease left in the pan and remembered the mushrooms I needed to use. English breakfast component, right? I gave them a quick wash and brush with the the mushroom brush and tossed into the still hot pan whole. I was getting sick of mushrooms by the end of my one pound package for just one person, but these were some of the best mushrooms I've had. It was astonishing how different they were from my usual way of cooking slices in butter.

 

I had a big raw spinach salad tonight and last night, as well as some salmon. I figure I will be okay. 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

I have been known to boil mushrooms for sauce allemande.

 

Not all of us have a microwave.

 

[weedy]

On 5/23/2017 at 10:04 AM, gfweb said:

As far as I know, no serious scientific study has found a benefit to humans from  antioxidants.

 

the AREDS study on macular degeneration found that a supplement that's mostly antioxidants: "The results showed that the AREDS formulation, while not a cure for AMD, may play a key role in helping people at high risk for developing advanced AMD keep their remaining vision."

 

https://nei.nih.gov/amd/summary

 

 

and there is this:

 

https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/antioxidants/#the bottom line on antioxidants

The Bottom Line on Antioxidants and Disease Prevention

Free radicals contribute to chronic diseases from cancer to heart disease and Alzheimer’s disease to vision loss. This doesn’t automatically mean that substances with antioxidant properties will fix the problem, especially not when they are taken out of their natural context. The studies so far are inconclusive, but generally don’t provide strong evidence that antioxidant supplements have a substantial impact on disease. But keep in mind that most of the trials conducted up to now have had fundamental limitations due to their relatively short duration and having been conducted in persons with existing disease. That a benefit of beta-carotene on cognitive function was seen in the Physicians’ Health Follow-up Study only after 18 years of follow-up is sobering, since no other trial has continued for so long. At the same time, abundant evidence suggests that eating whole fruits, vegetables, and whole grains—all rich in networks of antioxidants and their helper molecules—provides protection against many of these scourges of aging.

[gfweb]

OK, one study. But that thing from Harvard says that the evidence is weak and then sums up with a somewhat contradictory statement that is optimistic and as yet unsubstantiated. 

 

I'm happy if it is true.

[dcarch]

Try Google " Can too much antioxidant cause cancer?"

 

dcarch

[weedy]

6 hours ago, gfweb said:

OK, one study. But that thing from Harvard says that the evidence is weak and then sums up with a somewhat contradictory statement that is optimistic and as yet unsubstantiated. 

 

I'm happy if it is true.

 

and the AREDS study?

 

i only posted one. that doesn't imply there aren;t others.

 

[weedy]

3 hours ago, dcarch said:

Try Google " Can too much antioxidant cause cancer?"

 

dcarch

 

google is not a medical search.

 

google can turn up plenty of "pro" anecdotal evidence and unsubstantiated opinion as well

 

there is some argument about the value of supplementation (although the AREDS recommendation for anyone with macular deregulation, or the precursor to that, is pretty firm in its recommendations), but much less 'controversy' about the value of antioxidants from FOOD.

 

 

Edited May 25, 2017 by weedy (log)

[Naftal]

This conversation seems to indicate that I am the only one who prefers to steam mushrooms. Is that true?

[Anna N]

53 minutes ago, Naftal said:

This conversation seems to indicate that I am the only one who prefers to steam mushrooms. Is that true?

 I don't know if you are the only one but it would never occur to me to steam mushrooms.  That is not a judgement. I have never done it. But I would love to hear why you choose to steam them.

[TicTac]

Boiled mushrooms?  Steamed mushrooms?

 

I don't get it.

[Shalmanese]

I like to cook mushrooms covered in the microwave until cooked, drain off the liquid and then saute the mushrooms until browned before reintroducing the liquid. It's a much more efficient way of browning large batches of mushrooms because you're not trying to boil off huge amounts of liquids before browning.

[Naftal]

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, the taste of steamed mushrooms........! IMO it is pure umami, due to high levels of guanylate.

 

http://www.foodfacts.com/ci/ingredientsdefinition/disodium-guanylate/601

 

This is purely subjective, but I think steaming preserves most of  the guanylate present in 'shrooms. BTW, I eat them as a snack because I don't have the patience to wait and put them in something else.