This Review May Cause Hits On This Website To Mushroom! (mushroom-uk.com)

Member Name: Machair1

Product:	mushroom-uk.com
Date:	21/06/09 (51 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Clearly laid out website which is interesting and educational.

Disadvantages: None although the video clips may pose a problem if you have a dial up line.

Funded by mushroom growers and all the allied trades, the Mushroom Bureau is an organisation devoted to the promotion of mushrooms, and part of this is the website you can find at www.mushroom-uk.com

This website contains everything you need to know about the humble mushroom, and it is an Aladdin's cave of recipes, health information, and anything you might have wondered about these delightful fungi!

My fascination with mushrooms really began when I first started to visit the Island of Muck in the Inner Hebrides. Our initial visit to this remote outcrop in the middle of a vast sea taught me one thing overnight- that there was no shop. So being very careful with what you had brought, and what you could acquire was imperative, and before long we were told that each morning new mushrooms as big as dinner plates would crop up all over the island, and that these were perfectly safe to eat and were delicious.

(Please don't do this yourself unless you are an expert. We were told by the islanders, but I would never have done this myself as many varieties of mushrooms are poisonous and some are deadly!)

Each morning we would set off as the sun was coming up, and wander over the daisy fields until we spied the little grey peaks in the distance. Still sparkling with dew we would twist off these little wonders of nature, which would soon be crackling in oil in a cast iron pan back at the cottage. Their underneath were made from strands and strands of a fretwork of darker shades which lined the underside of the vast umbrella of lighter grey. These miracles of nature would appear over night as if by magic, and the simple pleasure of a morning which started by gathering them cannot be put into words.
www.isleofmuck.com

Today mushrooms have been in the news a lot as they have discovered they may be a food which has a preventative effect on the development of some breast cancers. This has come to light in a recent study which has revealed that women who eat mushrooms regularly have a lower incidence of the disease. As I have 5 dear friends, all of who have been battling the condition, and one who sadly passed away this week, this gives some hope to women. I hope it proves to be a report of significance, as anything which lowers the incidence of this disease has to be important.

Whether or not they have a role to play in the prevention of cancer, they are still packed full of B vitamins, iron, potassium and selenium, as well as being full of antioxidants.

The website is extremely well presented and it is very easy to navigate your way around it, and to focus on what may be of interest.

The home page is colourful and is currently advocating the benefits of mushrooms in summer, with some informative text detailing food uses, and recipe links, and a lovely picture of a casserole of mushrooms decorates the top of the page.

At the top of the page are links you can click on which will take you to areas of interest, namely, details of The Mushroom Bureau, recipes, health, information, competitions, and there is also a section to visit if you are a health professional and an education centre which you can visit.

On the left hand side there is a link to some videos you can watch including some recipes by Gino D'Acampo as he prepares his favourite pasta dish with mushrooms. There is also a fantastic mushroom master class in which he explains all about the types and ways to store them, choose them, and clean them. I really like this section because it is so helpful for anyone new to cooking with these. This video works perfectly for me, but it may pose a problem if you are on a dial up line, as some people are still in remote areas.


The right hand side of the home page currently has a link to the favourite recipe of the season which is a colourful salad.

The section on mushroom varieties is probably what interested me the most as it is helpful to understand the differences, as not all of them are the button type I certainly grew up with. I actually love the Portabello which are large mushrooms which I just sprinkle with salt pepper and olive oil, and roast in the oven for 10 minutes.

The education centre which is primarily aimed at school age children is a section I have visited and found to be of great interest as it focuses on all aspects of the growth of mushrooms from composting and spawning through to growing and harvesting, which of course takes place in the dark. We have a mushroom farm near to where I live, and a friend of mine used to work there for hours never seeing daylight!

Under the health section there is some absolutely fabulous news for dieters. They have such a low GI it can't be measured! Furthermore a study at The John Hopkins School of Public Health in the USA showed that if you substitute mushrooms for beef in 10 meals you can drop 1lb of body fat! So in a year you could shift 5lb!

The recipe section is a goldmine. Simple to follow recipes under clearly laid out headings including snacks, starters, vegetarian dishes, starters and warming dishes.

I think this is a great website and if you are new to cooking with mushrooms it is a great place to discover everything you need to know to get started.

It is so easy to weave your way around it, it loads quickly, and it is clearly laid out in at attractive and uncluttered way with lots of colourful illustratations. It is a wonderful place to start on a journey which will hopefully enable you to cook and choose mushrooms with confidence and maybe keep healthy too!

www.mushroom-uk.com

Summary: A really useful site for anything concerning mushrooms.