Golden oyster mushroom

Know in one minute about Golden oyster mushrooms The golden oyster mushroom tastes like a roasted cashew-like sweet and nutty flavor. This mushroom is growing in yellow clusters. It contains high levels of proteins, fibers, vitamins, minerals, and low levels of fats. Golden oyster mushrooms fight against bacteria and prevent food decay. Boosts immunity and helps to lose weight. It manages diabetes, lowers cholesterol levels, treats inflammation and cancer. Due to its fragile texture and short shelf life (3-4 days), not suitable for a long time.

Introduction 

Golden oyster mushroom (Pleurotus citrinopileatus; family Pleurotaceae) is edible fungus and popular in Asian countries due to its high nutritional value. It has an attractive shape, grows like bouquets, and is bright yellow.

This mushroom is extremely bitter and tangy with an unpleasant flavor when raw. Due to this, it is disliked by many people. However, after cooking it develops a strongly appealing roasted cashew-like sweet and nutty flavor with a chewy, tender texture.

Golden oyster mushroom has a fresh watermelon odor which is due to the presence of 3-octanol, 3-octanone, and 1–46 octen-3-ol.

Common name

Yuhuangmo, Citrine oyster mushroom, Tamogitake, Yellow oyster mushroom

Geographical distribution

This mushroom is found in Korea, Japan, China, Taiwan, Siberia, Turkey, Europe, and North America.

Classification

Kingdom- Fungi

Phylum -Basidiomycota,

Class- Agaricomycetes

Family- Pleurotaceae

Nutritional value of golden oyster mushroom 

Golden oyster mushroom is an excellent source of micronutrients and antioxidants components. This mushroom has high levels of proteins (22.10 %), dietary fiber (20.78 %), and crude lipid (1.32%). It is also a good source of minerals like potassium (2.28%) and amino acid-like glutamic acid (3.07%).

On the other hand, copper, zinc, and iron as well as fat (1.32%) are present in low amounts. It is also abundant in Vitamin B3 (Nicotinic acid), vitamin B5 (Pantothenic acid), and vitamin B2 (Riboflavin). Alternatively, vitamin B12 (Cyanocobalamin) and vitamin A (retinol) are present in low amounts.

Health Benefits of golden oyster mushroom

1. Treat obesity

Intake of golden oyster mushrooms inhibits weight gain, fat accumulation, and food intake. It enhances the activities of antioxidant enzymes and modulates the immune functions thus managing obesity .

2. Lower cholesterol level

Golden oyster mushroom decreases the triglycerides and low‐density lipoprotein (bad cholesterol) level.

It also increases high‐density lipoprotein (good cholesterol) levels and keeps the liver and kidney healthy thus, prevents diet‐induced hyperlipidemia.

3. Manage diabetes

Golden oyster mushroom contains a polysaccharide that controls blood glucose, insulin, and catalase levels in the blood.

It inhibits the enzyme responsible for the metabolism of saccharides and decreases the absorption of glucose into the blood.

4. Antitumor and cancer properties

Protein (polysaccharides or non lectin glycoprotein) from golden oyster mushrooms inhibits the proliferation of human tumor cells and induces apoptosis.

Thus, this mushroom enhances immunity and inhibits the growth of cancer like leukemia and liver cancer .

5. Boots immune response

Golden oyster mushroom contains beta-glucan, vitamin D2, and polysaccharides. These compounds activate macrophage cells that are involved in the detection and destruction of bacteria and other harmful organisms and improve immunity .

6. Treat inflammation

Beta-glucan found in golden oyster mushrooms inhibits the expression of cytokines that cause inflammation and promote the secretion of anti-inflammatory cytokine .

7. Anti-aging properties

High polyphenolic and flavonoid content in the golden oyster mushroom prevents the production of an enzyme that degrades collagen. Thus intake of this mushroom treats oxidative stress by antioxidant activity and reduces aging .

8. Antioxidant properties

The presence of phenols ergosterol and nicotinic acid in golden oyster mushrooms show higher antioxidant activities. These compounds remove harmful radicals and protect the body from various diseases .

9. Antimicrobial activity

Golden oyster mushroom contains glucosylceramide (membrane lipids) compound that inhibits the growth of Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus. Thus, this mushroom fights against infection and prevents food decay .

10. Keep brain healthy

Golden oyster mushroom is rich in amino acids like γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) and ornithine. This amino acid is required for brain functioning and mental activity. Moreover, it is also useful in the treatment of wasting muscles after illness or post-operative care.

Side effects of golden oyster mushroom

If you are allergic to mushrooms should also avoid this mushroom because it may cause hives, swelling, nausea, vomiting, or cramps. Moreover, due to its fragile texture and very short shelf life, it cannot be stored for a long time.

Recipes

Golden oyster mushroom has wonderful taste due to which it can be used in place of a button or other oyster mushrooms.

It is best suited for cooking methods such as grilled, boiled, sautéed, stir-fried, braised, or roasted.

These mushrooms pair well with herbs like thyme, parsley, sage, tarragon potatoes, aromatics including garlic, green onion, shallots, and ginger.

Used in sauces, soups, omelets, stews, pasta, risotto, or even sprinkled over pizza.

Q&A

1. How to cook golden oyster mushrooms?

Golden oyster mushrooms should be gently cleaned with a brush or paper towel. This mushroom should be cooked for a longer period to remove moisture in them. Moreover, its stem is slightly bitter so it should be removed and discarded.

2. How to grow golden oyster mushrooms?

Golden oyster mushrooms are found in warm climates on fallen trees and stumps of trees such as oak, elm, and beech.

Due to its delicate features and short shelf life, this mushroom is generally not available in local grocery stores. Using different substrates or waste mixtures will in house also.

This mushroom is easy to grow and produces a high number of smaller fruits than other oyster mushrooms. This mushroom grows fast in a warmer environment.

• Substrate

It grows well in straw, sugar cane mulch, radish leaves, cauliflower leaves, pea pod shells, sawdust, coffee grounds, paper, or compost. Moreover, paddy straw mixed with other wastes i.e. brassica straw,  pea pod shell,  cauliflower leaves, and radish leaves gives good results.  A research study suggested that this combination enhanced the protein, sugar, and amino acid content in the mushroom .

• Incubation

Add spawn into the substrate and incubate at 24 – 29°C for 10 – 14 days with humidity at 90-100%. Remember to shake once during colonization to speed up the growth.

• Primordia formation / Fruiting initiation – For fruiting maintain the temperature at 21 – 27°C with humidity of 98 – 100%. In 3 – 5 days fruiting happens. This mushroom grows well in light 500 – 1,000 lux with fresh air exchange of 4 – 8 per hour and CO2 below 1000 PPM.
• Fruiting and Harvest- The mushroom is ready to harvest within 3 – 5 days at temperature 21 – 29°C and humidity 90 – 95%. Harvesting should be done before the caps completely flatten out and immediately store in a refrigerator.

3. How to identify golden oyster mushrooms?

Golden oyster mushroom is small, golden to bright yellow caps with a velvety, dry surface texture, and grows in cluster form. In maturity, these mushroom caps form a thin, curl, and convex with wavy edges.  Underneath the caps, the gills are soft, white that connects to a cylindrical white stem. The golden oyster mushrooms smelled like fresh watermelon and had a crispy-chewy texture. This mushroom tastes bitter but after cooking it develops a sweet and nutty flavor like roasted cashews.

4. What are golden oyster mushrooms?

Golden oyster mushroom is a bright yellow mushroom that contains high protein and fiber content with a low level of lipids. This mushroom is very delicate, has a nutty flavor with a strong aromatic fruiting body .