Button mushrooms, also called white mushrooms, can be eaten both in raw and cooked form. Both the cap and the stem of white mushrooms can be eaten and there is no harm in eating button mushrooms. The terminal part of the stem of the white mushroom must be trimmed before cooking.
Yes, you can eat raw mushrooms, for the most part. We’re talking about the common white button mushroom but it can apply to nearly every edible mushroom, as long as you’re okay with the flavor and texture. Is it safe ?
Are white button mushrooms safe to eat?
The white button mushrooms, as well as their brown capped cousins are alright to eat as-is, as long as you wash them very thoroughly and check between their gills. However these two belong to the genus Agaricus, and have the highest amounts of agaritine.
Some varieties of edible fungi, including the common white button mushrooms, contain traces of certain carcinogenic compounds in their raw form. Shiitake mushrooms, for instance, have trace amounts of naturally-occurring formaldehyde, which is toxic to humans .
While more exotic species are used in Traditional Chinese Medicine for a variety of important conditions, even white button mushrooms can help weight management, improve nutrition, and increase your vitamin D levels.
This includes the common white or button mushroom —your everyday supermarket variety that is commonly found raw at restaurant salad bars: A study in the 1990s found that agaratine has a carcinogenic effect in the bladder of rats, while another study found cell mutation effects in mice that could lead to cancer.
Is it better to eat mushrooms raw or cooked?
It goes to show that you’re more likely to reap the rich antioxidant and cancer-fighting benefits of mushrooms if you cook them first before you eat them. There are several other types of mushrooms which are fine to eat when cooked, but that can give you an upset stomach if you eat them raw.
Moreover, do mushrooms lose their nutritional value when cooked?
When cooked, they deplete a substantial portion of their nutritional value, leaving behind only 1.5 grams of protein. The same number of raw mushrooms has 24 calories when raw, which reduces to 20 calories after cooking. The fiber content, on the other hand, actually increases from 1.1 grams in raw form to 1.6 grams when cooked.