ABSTRACT
Throughout recorded history, mankind has savoured the desirable flavours, acknowledged the nutritional value, and recognized the medicinal and tonic properties of mushrooms. Mushrooms were regarded by the early civilizations of Egypt and Rome as a special delicacy, and were perceived by the latter as the “Food of the Gods”. A clear indication of the high esteem in which mushrooms were held by different cultures is provided by the practice of restricting the use and consumption of many species to the rulers of the time. The medicinal and analeptic qualities of mushrooms, the scientific bases for which we are only just beginning to understand, have long been appreciated by the Chinese. Legend states that Chinese Emperors consumed Lentinus edodes in large quantities to fend off old age (Claydon, 1984). Other accounts tell us that the ancient Japanese courts valued these mushrooms for their aphrodisiac properties. “The growing sites were well hidden and heavily guarded”. One species of mushroom, Ganoderma, is cultivated today strictly for its medicinal benefits. Furthermore, it is now realized that mushrooms have an important role to play in the recycling of organic wastes, thereby 298relieving environmental pollution. Since mushrooms possess the enzyme complexes which enable them to attack the cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin components of plant cell walls, they can grow on a wide variety of lignocellulosic materials. Thus, edible mushroom cultivation offers a mechanism for the effective upgrading of the huge quantities of waste residues generated annually through the activities of the agricultural, forest and food industries.
