Straw Mushroom - Asian Mushrooms

One of the important Asian Mushrooms is the Straw Mushroom or Paddy Straw Mushroom. Widely grown throughout Asia the Straw Mushroom gets its name from its favourite habitat, the dried straw that remains after the rice harvest. Outside of Asia, the Straw Mushroom, Volvariella Volvacea, has not been widely cultivated but is available worldwide in canned or dried form.

Straw mushrooms are normally harvested “unpeeled”, that is before they open completely, and their colour changes from a light tan to dark grey as they mature. Paddy Straw Mushrooms are very popular in Asian cooking being used in stir fries and soups like the Thai Tom Yam. Their flavour is musty and slightly earthy but similar to Tofu, Straw Mushrooms absorb flavour from the food they are cooked with.

In their unpeeled or unopened form, these mushrooms can be difficult to distinguish from some other veiled mushrooms including the poisonous death caps so great care must be taken in identification. Straw mushrooms have a pink spore print whilst the death caps have a white spore print. Unless you are absolutely certain, it is much safer not to pick them yourself.