5 Reasons to look for wild Oyster mushroom this winter ~ plus a recipe

Wild oyster mushroom fritters and Lima bean honey mustard sauce... served with rye flour pita bread. (no dairy, no egg!)

In the Polish Christmas post from a few weeks, I mentioned Oyster mushrooms but didn’t feel as though I gave them enough of a spotlight.

These squishy antioxidant filled choice-edible mushrooms are well worth the effort of trekking out into the woods this winter. Here’s 5 reasons why…

1. Oyster mushrooms are accessible and easy to identify

These mushrooms grow throughout North America and in many places all over the world in tropical to temperate forests, so wherever you live odds are you might find some.

It is worth noting that unlike many mushrooms, Oyster season lasts all year long in favorable conditions. In summertime,or in warmer areas, Oysters are white and flat looking. In cooler weather, they grow thicker and light to dark gray in color.

In many areas, they are most commonly found in fall/winter. Scroll down past #5 for a quick identification guide…

2. Great source of beta-glucans

Beta-glucans make up the cell walls of mushrooms and act as immune system regulators; helping to alleviate inflammation in the body while stimulating phagocytosis and natural killer cell activity.

Beta-glucans have a anti-cancer effect, especially against gastric cancers and lung cancer.

These wonderful compounds also stimulate digestion, promoting excretion of toxins, prevent constipation, promote fat metabolism and reduce blood cholesterol.

3. Vitamins, minerals & antioxidants

Wild oyster mushrooms have about 28 calories per one-cup serving with 1g fat, 2g dietary fiber, 3g protein, an impressive array of minerals, vitamins, amino acids and a high water content (84-87%) making them a well balanced nutritious food.

A study published in 2021 found that an addition of 84g (about 1/2 cup) of mushrooms (including oyster mushroom) resulted in an increase in dietary fiber, copper, phosphorus, potassium, selenium, zinc, riboflavin, niacin, and choline in both adolescents and adults; and in iron, thiamin, folate, and vitamin B6 in adults only.

The addition of this small serving of mushrooms would also added the amino acid linked to cognitive health ergothioneine and powerful anti-oxidant glutathione to the diet.

Also oyster mushrooms in particular increased vitamin D levels up to 12-13% as did all mushrooms exposed to UV light.

Find the full study here, https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/fsn3.2120

4. Get the benefits of nature whether you find mushrooms or not

This goes with all mushrooms. Even if you go on a hike and wind up empty handed, you still get the benefit of enjoying the health benefits of nature.

What a great opportunity to get in touch with the land around you and truly feel like a local. Who knows you may discover some other hidden gems, perhaps edible plants, that grow around you.

If you live in a rural area, it’s not always necessary to travel far. This past October, I was traveling to parks and wilderness preserves up to a 45 minute drive away to forage finding handfuls of this and that. One morning, I decided to go on a walk and found a lions mane growing just off the street that I live. And another lions mane and a huge patch of honey mushrooms about 1/4 mile away from my house!

5. They are Delicious!

This mushroom is a really effective meat replacement for non meat eaters. Some say they have an anise flavor but I don’t really get that. I find them slightly sweet and quite neutral, able to soak up any flavors you put them with while adding a great substance. Try adding oysters to a falafel or burger recipe.

Another great option is dehydrating slices of wild oyster and grinding them into a powder for a nutrient dense flour alternative to thicken soups, sauces and gravy.

How to identify wild oyster

There are more than one species of oyster mushroom including golden, blue and king oyster. The one I will be focusing on is Pearl oyster (Pleurotus ostreatus) which is widely the most common and most often cultivated.

• Can be found on dead or dying hardwood trees, logs or stumps. Often is swampy moist areas or around a pond or lake. Often growing in clusters.

• The cap is fleshy and smooth, oyster shaped and ranges from white, tan to gray in color.

• On the underside, the mushroom has widely spaced decurrent gills which are white to yellowish white in color.

• The spore print is lilac color.

Disclaimer: In no way can the information provided in this article be construed as medical advice or diagnosing and treating any type of illness. Harvest wild food at your own risk. If you are new to foraging, use multiple sources, and common sense. If you are not sure, do not eat it.

can you spot the mushroom?

and now for the recipe!

Wild Oyster mushroom fritters

I am so tired of always using beans or chickpeas when making a veggie burger. So today, I use green bananas instead both to add texture and as a binding agent. And I call them “fritters” because they are thinner than a typical veggie burger.

Any flour could be used, the flour and blended banana combination is the glue that holds the fritters together….

4 cups sliced, cooked oyster mushroom

4 green bananas

1 onion

1 jalapeno pepper

2 Tbs ground flax seed (optional)

1 cup rye flour

2 Tbs salt

Oil for frying

Peel the green bananas and chop two of them into very small pieces and place in a large bowl. Also chop the mushrooms, onion and pepper into pieces and add to the bowl. A food processor can be used instead to make the chopping faster. Everything should be chopped uniformly small, but not too small so that the fritters have some texture.

Add the salt and flax (if using) seed into the bowl with everything else and mix.

Chop the remaining 2 peeled green bananas into a blender with a little bit of water and blend until smooth. Use the least amount of water possible to get the banana to blend.

Pour the blended banana in the bowl and mix everything. Add the flour slowly until the mixture is sticking together. You may need to add more or less flour depending on how much water you used.

Heat up a skillet with some oil and fry spoonfuls of the batter until golden brown on both sides.

Serve hot with the honey mustard sauce…

Lima bean Honey mustard Sauce

A good honey mustard is basically a blend of honey, mustard, vinegar, oil, salt combined with some kind of bland base or “filler”. Usually it’s mayonnaise. But since we don’t like mayo, I have experimented with other ingredients.

Sunflower seed butter is our favorite mayo replacement but I didn’t have those on hand. I went with Lima beans instead, and the result was surprisingly good.

1 Tbs mustard

1 Tbs honey

1 Tbs white vinegar

1 cup cooked Lima beans

Salt to taste

1 tsp olive oil

Boil the Lima beans first and set aside to cool. Blend all the ingredients in a food processor. Taste it and add more honey, mustard, vinegar or salt as needed.

Rye flour pita bread

The fritters and honey mustard were so good by themselves but I just wanted something a little more, so I made them into little burgers with these pitas. It was great!

1 cup warm water

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour (plus 2 cups extra)

¾ cup Rye flour

2 tsp dry active yeast

1 tsp salt

1 Tbs oil

Combine warm water and yeast in a bowl, let sit for 5 minutes. Add ½ cup of the all-purpose flour and mix. Let the mixture sit for 15 minutes.

Add the salt, oil, ¾ cup rye flour, 1 cup all-purpose flour and mix until the dough looks “shaggy”. Turn the dough out onto a flour dusted countertop and knead with hands. Continue kneading as you add flour one spoonful at a time until the dough is smooth, elastic and not sticking to the countertop.

Place the dough ball in a bowl and place in a warm location (100-120F) for one hour. I do this by preheating the oven to the lowest setting (150F), placing the bowl inside and turning off the oven.

After an hour the dough should be about double in size. Transfer it back to the countertop and form it into a circle. Use a knife or pizza cutter to slice it into 8 equal sized pieces. Roll each piece of dough into a ball using your hands.

Once you are finished making 8 dough balls, cover them loosely with plastic wrap or a moistened kitchen towel and let them rest for 15 minutes.

Roll out each ball into a 8 inch circle. Preheat the oven to 500F. Place the pitas on a baking sheet and bake for 3 to 5 minutes. The pitas are also delicious fried in oil instead, but they won’t puff up in the middle like they do in the oven.

Thanks for reading! Happy foraging!

-Julia