ABSTRACT
Mushrooms are considered a special kind of food, items of “food delicacy” because of their characteristic texture and flavor. However, it was not until the 1900s, when antibiotics were obtained from the mold Penicillium, that the potential medicinal value of fungi attracted worldwide attention. The chem-ical, biological, and biochemical properties of mushroom fruiting bodies are numerous, and higher Basidiomycetes mushrooms have been used in folk medicine throughout the world since ancient times (15).
