Korean women eat dried mushrooms daily. Rich in calcium and vitamin D, they are a healthy food that helps women stand up straight. How to choose dried mushrooms
Look: The mushroom should have a thick cap, a smooth surface, uniform size, tightly packed and fine white gills, a short and thick stem, and curled-in, thick edges. Yellowish-brown or dark brown in color is best, and good mushrooms may have a slight white bloom on the surface.
Smell: It should have a rich, unique mushroom aroma. Mushrooms without a scent, or with any other strange or musty smell, are of poor quality.
Touch: Dried mushrooms should be dry, with an ideal moisture content of 11% to 13%. However, they should not be too dry; if they crumble when pinched, the quality is poor.
Kim Yeon-soo, a former medical columnist for the Korean newspaper Munhwa Ilbo, wrote in her book that dried mushrooms are a daily must for Korean women. After women turn 50, their backs tend to hunch and their height decreases. The best way to prevent this is to supplement with calcium and vitamin D, which helps with calcium absorption, and dried mushrooms are a food that contains both of these nutrients.
It should be noted that these mushrooms must be dried in the sun. This is because mushrooms contain ergosterol, which converts to vitamin D upon exposure to sunlight, promoting normal growth and development. After buying fresh mushrooms, spread them evenly on newspaper to dry. Use a handful at a time, fry them, and then steep them in tea to drink daily. Many dried mushrooms on the market are machine-processed, so Koreans often buy them and dry them again at home, which is considered safer.
Feng Lei, Director of the Health Management Department at the Tourism and Management College of Zhejiang Forestry University, reminds that besides eating dried mushrooms, one should also consume more milk, soy products, and small dried shrimp to supplement calcium more fully. Getting more sun exposure is also a better way to supplement vitamin D.
Dried mushrooms can be steamed, stir-fried, braised, or stewed; it is best to pair them with meat. It should be noted that dried mushrooms have strict cleaning requirements, and improper handling can destroy their effective nutrients. When soaking dried mushrooms, first rinse the surface dirt with water, then place them in warm water to soak for about an hour. Be careful not to soak them for too long. Then, stir the mushrooms in one direction with your fingers or shake them in the water with the stems down to remove any sand.