Shiitakes and the food pyramid
I was raised on the old USDA food pyramid, and
even though I know it's not quite healthy, I still tend to plan my
meals based on its teachings. I try to make sure every meal has
plenty of vegetables, a bit of protein, a bit of starch. And, of
course, I eat fruit like it's candy.
But mushrooms mystify me. They have so many vitamins and minerals
in them that they are clearly in the vegetable group. On the
other hand, they are relatively high in protein, which means that I
might lump them in with meats (where I put eggs and legumes.)
Given this week's massive harvest, I'm tempted to say that shiitakes
fill both niches. After all, we have enough mushrooms this week
to cover the entire food pyramid!
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About us: Anna Hess and Mark Hamilton spent over a decade living self-sufficiently in the mountains of Virginia before moving north to start over from scratch in the foothills of Ohio. They've experimented with permaculture, no-till gardening, trailersteading, home-based microbusinesses and much more, writing about their adventures in both blogs and books.
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