Nutritional value of edible wild mushrooms collected from the Khasi hills of Meghalaya D. Agrahar-Murugkar a, * , G. Subbulakshmi b a ICAR Research Complex for NEH region, Umroi road, Umiam, Meghalaya 793-103, India b Director of Research, Nirmala Niketan, College of Home Science, 49, New Marine Lines, Mumbai 400 020, India Received 7 January 2004; received in revised form 8 March 2004; accepted 8 March 2004 Abstract Seven wild edible mushrooms commonly consumed in the Khasi hills of Meghalaya were analyzed for their contents of dry matter,crude protein, fat, fibre and ash along with minerals (Ca, P, Fe, Mn, Cu, Zn,Na, K, Mg and Se), ascorbic acid and the profile of essential amino acids. The macronutrient profile in general revealed that the wild mushrooms were rich sources and had low amounts of fat. In general, most of the mushrooms studied had good amounts of minerals, including trace mi average, phenylalanine was the limiting amino acid (0.9 lg%) while the highest amount of EAA present in the mushrooms was leucine (704 lg%). One serving of the studied mushrooms (250 g fresh weight) contained an average of 6.12 g of prot of calcium, 9.3 mg of iron and 3.72 mg of zinc. More importantly it had low levels of fat (0.712 g) and sodium (0.077 mg). Ó 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: Mushrooms; Nutrients; Amino acids; Khasi tribes 1. Introduction The consumption ofwild edible mushrooms is in- creasing, even in the developed world, due to a good content of proteins as well as a higher content of trace minerals (Thimmel & Kluthe, 1998).Wild mushrooms are a popular food source among the Khasi tribe of Northeast India. The region is a high rainfall area and boasts some of the wettest areas of the world. The high humidity level during the monsoon season (June–Octo- ber) providesideal atmosphericconditionsfor the growth of many saprophytes, including the mushrooms. There are several wild mushroomsthat grow in the forests ofMeghalaya and the locals relish them. The mushrooms are picked from the forest and they form an integralpart of the dietduring the monsoon months when these are abundantly available. In spite of the immense popularity of this food in the region,data regarding thenutritivevalueof the wild mushroom varieties available in the region are very meagre. The presentstudy determines the nutritionalcontentof the commonly consumed wild mushrooms found in Meghalaya. 2. Materials and methods 2.1. Identification and collection of the wild mushrooms Seven unconventional mushrooms eaten by the Khasi tribalswere identified with the help of a rapid rural appraisal survey (Agrahar-Murugkar & Pal, 2004) and these were collected from the forests and markets of the East Khasi hills (Fig. 1). The mushrooms were scien- tifically identified at the National Bureau of Plant Ge- netic Resources,ICAR, Barapani, Meghalayaand Botanical Survey of India, Shillong, Meghalaya, India. 2.2. Sample preparation Mushrooms from the forest were first washed thor- oughly to free them from mud, ferns and other extra- neous material, dried on blotting paper, cut into pieces * Corresponding author. Tel.: +91-0913-6457-0425; fax: +91-0913- 6457-0288/+91-364-2570257. E-mail address: dipikaagrahar@yahoo.com (D. Agrahar-Murug- kar). 0308-8146/$ - see front matter Ó 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.foodchem.2004.03.042 Food Chemistry 89 (2005) 599–603 www.elsevier.com/locate/foodchem Food Chemistry