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Button Mushroom (Agaricus bisporus)

Agaricus bisporus, known as table mushroom, cultivated mushroom or button mushroom, is an edible basidiomycete fungus which naturally occurs in grasslands, fields and meadows across Europe and North America, though has spread much more widely and is one of the most widely cultivated mushrooms in the world. The original wild form bore a brownish cap and dark brown gills but more familiar is the current variant with a white form with white cap, stalk and flesh and brown gills.

Some grocery stores in the Western world sell this mushroom in canned and fresh preparations. An agaric, its gills are often left on in preparations. It can be found cooked on pizzas and casseroles, stuffed mushrooms, raw on salads, and in various forms in a variety of dishes. Some mycologists, including Paul Stamets, have raised concerns that this mushroom contains trace quantities of a chemical agaritine known to have carcinogenic properties, though whether levels are sufficient to cause harm in consumers is debated.

Taxonomy and Naming
Agaricus bisporus is known by many names several of which refer to different stages; "button mushroom" when sold, collected or eaten in young, unopened form, "Crimini mushroom" or "baby bella" as an immature portobello, or "Portobello mushroom" as a large brown mature mushroom. It is known as the champignon de Paris in France. It is also often called simply "champignon" (the french word for "fungus") in several languages.
The cultivated mushroom is a member of the large genus Agaricus, which has numerous members which are edible, tasty and collected worldwide. The next best-known is the commonly collected wild mushroom (A. campestris), known in North America as the meadow mushroom or field mushroom in England and Australia. This can be found throughout much of the United States and Europe.
The common mushroom has a complicated taxonomic history. It was first described as a variety (var. hortensis) of A. campestris in 1884, before Danish mycologist Jakob Emanuel Lange reviewed the cultivated form, naming it as a variety Psalliota hortensis var. bispora in 1926, its epithet derived from its two-spored basidia (as distinct from other members of the genus which had four-spored basidia). Mõller and Schäffer raised the mushroom to species status as Psalliota bispora in 1938. It was given its current binomial name of Agaricus bisporus by Emil J. Imbach upon the renaming of Psalliota to Agaricus in 1946.
The earlier Agaricus brunnescens was a name coined by Charles Horton Peck in 1900 and proposed as the correct name for the mushroom, however this description referred to a four-spored collection and cannot be ascribed to A. bisporus.

Culinary Use
There have been few studies on the nutritional value of mushrooms, with what is known derived from chemical analyses of the composition and few animal studies. Thus much of what is said about their nutritiousness is speculative. The water content of fresh Agaricus bisporus has been measured at 89%.
Common mushrooms are fairly rich in vitamins and minerals. The mushroom contains high amounts of vitamin B group, sodium, potassium and phosphorus. Raw mushrooms are naturally cholesterol and fat free. The mushrooms also have very low energy levels — five medium-sized common mushrooms added together only have 20 calories.
Common mushrooms have a unique flavor that can be matched by few other mushrooms. No specific flavor can be defined; most people describe the mushroom as "plain", but other people say that the common mushroom tastes slightly sweet or "meaty".
Like potatoes, apples and avocados, table mushrooms oxidize ("rust") quickly when exposed to air. When sliced and exposed to air for ten minutes or more, the mushrooms quickly soften, turn a brownish color, and lose their original flavor.


Agaricus bisporusNutritional value per 100 g (3.5 oz)
Energy 20 kcal 90 kJ
Carbohydrates 3.3 g
- Sugars 1.7 g
- Dietary fiber 1.0 g
Fat 0.3 g
Protein 3.1 g
Thiamin (Vit. B1) 0.08 mg 6%
Riboflavin (Vit. B2) 0.4 mg 27%
Niacin (Vit. B3) 3.6 mg 24%
Pantothenic acid (B5) 1.5 mg 30%
Vitamin C 2 mg 3%
Iron 0.5 mg 4%
Percentages are relative to USrecommendations for adults.Source: USDA Nutrient database


(Source : Wikipedia)