The
white mushroom (Agaricus bisporus), also called the common mushroom,
cultivated mushroom, and called champignon de Paris in France, is the most widely cultivated
mushroom in
the world. Virtually every grocery store in the western
world carries 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,
raw on salads, and in various forms in a variety of dishes.Portobello mushroom
is a marketing name for a large brown strain of the same fungus. Portobellos are
left to mature and take on a toadstool-shaped appearance before picking. During
maturation, their color darkens and their flavor changes.
A familiar wild
mushroom, the meadow
mushroom, can be found throughout much of the United States. However,
care must be taken, as it resembles the immature stage of a number of deadly poisonous
Amanita species.
Growers
of white mushrooms often must watch out for the red-capped weed
Panaeolus (Panaeolus subbalteatus), a hallucinogenic mushroom that
grows in the same environment. Panaeolus subbalteatus is found on manure and rotting
hay in the wild, and is frequently found in the compost used by white mushroom
cultivators. With its differently shaped reddish-brown cap, it does not look similar
to the white mushroom, which greatly eases finding and removing it from the crop.
