Agaricus blazei murill / God`s Mushroom / Agaricaceae (Agaricus family)

Information

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Other Names

Agaricus subrufescens, Agaricus blazei, Himematsutake, God’s Mushroom, ABM (for Agaricus Blazei Mushroom), Cogumelo do Sol (Mushroom of the Sun), Cogumelo de Deus (Mushroom of God), Cogumelo de Vida (Mushroom of Life), Himematsutake, Royal Sun Agaricus, Mandelpilz, Almond Mushroom.

Description

Agaricus Blazei Murill is a mushroom native to Brazil, called "Sun Mushroom" or "God's Mushroom". This newly discovered mushroom has been exported to Japan after 1965 where it became known as "Himematsutake" or "Agarikusutake". The mushroom has been used in Brazilian folk healing. In Japan, the mushroom has been cultivated and studied. It is an edible and nutritious mushroom, particularly rich in polysaccharides. Studies(1) have shown it contains powerful immunostimulants called Beta glucans.

Scent

This Agaricus has a somewhat sweet taste and fragrance of almonds.

Contents

Contains many polysaccharides. Contains Beta glucan in higher doses than both Reishi and Shiitake mushrooms.
The Almond flavor is due to the presence of benzaldehyde, benzyl alcohol, benzonitrile, and methyl benzoate.(5)
ABM is known to contain three different beta-glucans – β-(1-3)-D-glucan, β-(1-4)-α-D-glucan, and β-(1-6)-D-glucan.

Historical

A Japanese-Brazilian farmer first discovered the Agaricus Blazei Murill in the summer of 1965. Since 1968, Dr. Takashi Mizuno Ph.D., has studied the bioactive substances in fungi, especially those related to anti-tumor active polysaccharides. They discovered that the Agaricus blazei Murril was rich in polysaccharide compounds, which assist in boosting the immune system. Research has found that the two principal polysaccharide compounds, which exist in Agaricus Blazei Murill, are ß(Beta) 1,3-D Glucan and ß(Beta) 1,6-D Glucan.
Agaricus subrufescens was first described by the American botanist Charles Horton Peck in 1893.(2) During the late 19th and early 20th century, it was cultivated for the table in the eastern United States (Kerrigan 2005).(3) It was discovered again in Brazil during the 1970s, and thought to be a new species, Agaricus blazei. It was soon marketed for its purported medicinal properties under various names.
In 2002, Didukh and Wasser rejected the name A. blazei and called the Brazilian fungi Agaricus brasiliensis;(4) this was rejected by Kerrigan through genetic and interfertility testing on several fungal strains.(3)
Samples of the Brazilian strains called A. blazei and A. braziliensis proved to be genetically similar to, and interfertile with, the North American population of Agaricus subrufescens. These tests also found European samples called A. rufotegulis to be of the same species. Because Agaricus subrufescensis the oldest name, it is traditionally considered the scientifically, historically correct name.
Because of the valuable polysaccharide, and lack of supply, Agaricus blazei used to be relatively expensive, until it was successfully artificially cultivated in mushroom farms. China(Maucua) and Brazil are major exporters.

Plant Description

Cap: 7-25 cm; round, sometimes shaped like a marshmallow when young, becoming convex to nearly flat; surface dry, when young covered with fine matted fibrils which break up into tiny scales, except at the center; fibrils pallid, buff, pale brown, or pinkish-brown; scales becoming darker brown or reddish with age; background color white to pinkish-buff; sometimes yellowing with age or when bruised.
Gills: Free from the stem; close; whitish when young, becoming pinkish, then reddish brown, and eventually dark chocolate brown.
Stem: 5-15 cm long; 1-4 cm thick; equal or enlarged at base; with a thick membranous partial veil which has cottony patches on the underside and which forms a high, skirt-like ring; white to pinkish above the ring; smooth or with fibrils or scales below; base often staining yellow with age or when bruised (but the flesh inside does not stain bright yellow when cut); base often with mycelial threads attached.
Flesh: Thick; firm; white; bruising very slightly yellow or not at all. (7)

References

(1) Document: NL E4-0-C-REF (Agaricus blazei and Immune health), Netherlands Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport
(2) Agaricus subrufescens, Illinois Mycological Association
(3) Agaricus subrufescens, a cultivated edible and medicinal mushroom, and its synonyms Kerrigan, Richard W. (2005),
(4) Didukh, Marina & Wasser, Solomon (2002), "Is a Widely Cultivated Culinary-Medicinal Royal Sun Agaricus (the Himematsutake Mushroom) Indeed Agaricus blazei Murrill?", International Journal of Medicinal Mushrooms 4(4): 267-290
(5) Volatile Components of Mushroom (Agaricus subrufecens), Chen, Chu-Chin & Wu, Chung-May (1984), Journal of Food Science 49 (4): 1208-1209
(6) Agaricus blazei murill, Wikipedia
(7) Agaricus subrufescens, MushroomExpert.Com