Mushroom
There are zillions of different types of mushrooms. Many grow wild but some of those can make you sick, so don’t pick them unless you know your mycology (the study of fungi). The mushrooms we usually eat are button mushrooms and are particularly awesome pan-fried with butter and garlic until soft and succulent. Did you know? The largest living thing on Earth is a humongous fungus – a mushroom. The Honey Mushroom in Oregon Blue Mountains is nearly four square miles and estimated to be at least 2,400 years old!
Nutrition
Mushrooms are a fantastic way to load up on your B vitamins which are great for energy support. When mushrooms are grown in adequate sunlight they can be an extra source for your daily vitamin D dosage.
Shopping Guide
Look out for mushrooms that are firm with a smooth surface and appear to be dry without looking dried out. If you like a richer flavour to your mushroom then try to purchase those that are open underneath with exposed gills so you can see the inside. Mushrooms with a closed veil typically have a more delicate flavour.
Storage
To store mushrooms, keep in the original packaging or a paper bag in the fridge for up to a week.
Serving Suggestion
When ready to use them, prep mushrooms by wiping clean with a damp paper towel. The mushrooms we typically pick up at the supermarket are button mushrooms. Just pan-fry in butter and garlic until soft.
Seasonality
Buying veg in season is not only great for the planet, it can be good for your wallet, too! Seasonal veg are often cheaper and frequently taste better, so can be a better time to try with a child as the often sweeter, riper taste is more enjoyable.
At Its Best:
January - December
Engage
Here are some of our favourite ways to engage kids with mushrooms:
Arts & Crafts
Start simple with some non-food based engagement. This is especially helpful for a fussier child or those with sensitivities around food.
For mushrooms, why not try making a funny face on a plate using sliced raw mushrooms and a couple of different veg? Or try tracing the shape of a sliced mushroom onto a piece of paper and see if you can turn it into a whole new image – what does the shape remind you of? A spaceship? A person? A hat? Use your imagination and some colouring pencils or tore up magazines/coloured paper for a picture or collage.
Another way to have great fun with mushrooms is to find a bigger variety in the shops that you can remove the stalk from and then try drawing the “spores” – the lines you see repeated evenly as a pattern under the mushroom cap.
Science
Science allows for curiosity, play and hands-on experiments. It helps kids to become fascinated with veg – how it looks, reacts, smells, cooks and more. Finding fun and simple experiments to allow kids to play with their veg makes them curious about it and helps them approach it in a positive way.
A mushroom growing kit can be a great way to explore fungi! Follow the instructions on the pack, which usually just involve spraying with a little water occasionally and keeping in a dark place. Kids will love checking on the earth and watching the mushrooms pop up!
Alternatively, find a few types of mushrooms from the shops, ideally darker ones and medium-large size. Remove the stalks, then place the mushrooms spores down onto some white paper, cover each mushroom with a jar or glass (any container that will make the mushroom airtight is fine) and leave overnight. You should have some “spore prints”! This is because spores are like seeds in mushrooms – they disperse them. See what varieties work best and record your results, it will make for a great art project, too.
Sensory
Sensory exploration can be a wonderful introduction to physically interacting with veg. Turn it into a positive, pressure-free experience by starting off with the golden rules of “You don’t need to try and you don’t need to like.” Reassuring a child that, while they have a chance to taste a veg, they don’t have to, and are not expected to like it if they do, can make them more happy to engage with it.
Mushrooms are a great veg to explore through our senses, as they are so unusual! Getting a pack of “wild” or “mixed” mushrooms allows you to explore different kinds, which is great – they are all so different in taste as well as look that it can be good for reluctant kids to understand how different they all can be. Explore the whole mushroom, sliced mushroom, and separated stalk and cap of a few mushrooms through sight and describe what you see, what it reminds you of, and what you find most fascinating. Can you see patterns? Lines? Colours? Shapes? If you want to keep going, explore them through touch – do they feel different? Does a large flat mushroom feel the same as a small bunch of oyster mushrooms or tiny button mushrooms? Do they smell the same? What about a cooked vs a raw mushroom – do they smell, taste and feel the same? Are they smooth? Hard? Crunchy? Soft?
Kids in the Kitchen
Children who help to prep and cook veg are more likely to eat it. If you feel your child is ready to help and could benefit from it, keep the stress and mess to a minimum by choosing one simple task for them to do as part of the prep, meaning they can be involved and feel like the recipe is in part ‘theirs’, but also not make the process too much longer or more complicated.
For a younger child, why not use mushrooms to introduce some early knife skills with a kid-friendly non-sharp knife? Mushrooms are so soft they are easy to chop with just a butter or toddler knife! Cleaning mushrooms can be a faff, but can be fascinating to a younger child – just drip a little water onto a paper towel so it’s slightly damp and wipe the dirt from the mushrooms, getting new paper towels as you need them.
For an older child, it could be a great opportunity to learn some simple but essential knife and stove skills. Show them how to safely slice the mushrooms using the bridge and/or claw grip, then have them help you melt some butter or heat some oil in a frying pan and move the mushrooms and a little chopped garlic around the pan with a wooden spoon until they darken and cook through, learning how to safely handle heat over the stove and what is safe to touch and what isn’t with your guidance.
DOWNLOADS:
Use our Kitchen Ninja chart and videos to find simple ways for kids to help in the kitchen.
Your Food
Find your go-to meals in our family favourites section and see what veggies work best with them.
Find out how to add more veg to your suppers here.
Recipes
If You Like Mushrooms…Try
Does your child enjoy mushrooms? That’s great! Mushrooms are savoury, earthy and soft, so why not try a similar texture and/or taste…
Serving
The moments before food is offered can be a perfect opportunity for engagement that can help make it more likely a child will eat it!
The first thing to do is remove the pressure. If the veg doesn’t get eaten, it’s not the end of the world. There will be other days, other dinners, other chances. Fun is key here – try not to worry about mess, perfect table manners, or playing with food. Instead, focus on making the process of getting the food to the plates, readying the table, and the actual eating relaxed.
The best principles for success here are the Three Rs (role modelling, rewarding, re-offering) which you can read about here.
But there is one more way you can serve for success, and that is giving your child a role. You don’t have to do this every time, just encourage them in their strengths through it when you can.
Here are some of our favourite ideas:
Design a menu
Come up with a silly name or story for a dish
Help with making a meal plan and choosing veg for dinners or snacks
Help to serve up the meal on dishes, lay the table or create a centrepiece to be involved in the physical ‘serving up’ process
The Wonderful World of Veg
Check out our vegepedia. When to buy in-season. How to store them to keep for longer. How to engage children with each veg, and simple ideas of how to prepare and cook them for maximum taste and minimum waste. Select a veg…