Marine fungi show promising results in oil pollution treatment

Hi there 🍄 

This week’s highlights include a guide to shaggy mane mushrooms and an artist making life-size mushrooms.

Marine fungi are powerful water purifiers

Always cleaning up after us. A new study from King Saud University in Saudi Arabia isolated five marine fungi strains from the Red Sea coast to test their ability to remove oil and other toxins from bilge water, a mix of water, oil, and grease that accumulates in a ship’s lower compartment.

The study is more relevant now than ever, with global marine shipping traffic expected to increase tenfold by 2050. Thankfully, the researchers found compelling results that add to fungi’s growing resume as bioremediation specialists.

• Fusarium magnifereae was the most effective fungus in reducing crude oil concentration and turbidity, the cloudy film of matter in the water 🍄 

• Seeds in bilge water treated with F. magnifereae showed high germination rates, suggesting a compelling use for successful irrigation 🌱 

• Indigenous fungi offer an efficient, economical, and sustainable method for treating oily wastewater 🌊 

Read more about the study.

Please pass the lawyer’s wigs

Not to be confused with lion’s mane. Shaggy mane mushrooms are a forager’s best friend, no matter the stage of your journey. Weather reports from the Northeast to the West Coast predict a lush mushroom foraging season in the coming weeks if they’re not already sprouting near you.

These friendly fungi are easy to identify, grow in more bustling areas like garden beds and roadsides, and have a really neat party trick of turning inky black as they age. Once foraged ethically, these mushrooms are easy to cook. Here are three recipes on repeat during shaggy season.

• Sauteed shaggy mane mushrooms with fresh herbs 🌿 

• Shaggy mane mushroom soup with coconut cream 🥥 

• Shaggy mane mushroom risotto 🍲 

One last thing… one study in 2017 found a protein in shaggy mane mushrooms called Y3 that binds with proteins on the surface of specific leukemia cells. When this happens, a chain reaction of enzyme activity causes 90% of leukemia cells to die. Even in 2017, Dr. Yousong Ding, who headed the study at the University of Florida, suggested the untapped source of mushroom drug discovery and development.

Read more about shaggy mane mushrooms.

Around the web

• 🌏️ A new report on fungi diversity estimates that there are probably 2.5 million species we don’t know. This doesn’t feel the most surprising given that Western science and medicine can hardly wrap their heads around even reishi mushrooms, but it sure puts into perspective just how much fungi keep our world intact.

• 🐿️ If you find mushrooms balanced on tree stumps out in the woods, you might be walking into a squirrel’s dehydrator. Aislinn Sarnacki reported the curious foraging habits of red squirrels in Maine and found that they treat their mushrooms with the tenderness of a chef handling truffles. Squirrels are known to break large mushrooms into chunks for drying and they usually use branches to provide airflow.

• 🌽 One lucky gardener on Reddit had a surprise growing in their first batch of corn: huitlacoche! This fungus, known as Mexican truffle, turns into a delicious earthy, smoky ball of inky black goodness when cooked. Huitlacoche has been a dietary staple in the American Southwest and South American indigenous peoples for centuries, where it’s embedded into regional dishes. You hardly find huitlacoche in America because American farmers thought it was a plague instead of embracing it for the beautiful fungus it is.

Featured artist: Kara Walker

If you watched Season 3 of Making It on Netflix, you might remember Kara Walker. An incredible sculptor and artist, she makes a variety of mystical and otherworldly creations. The storybook forest lending library she sculpted from foam won her the title in the second episode, featuring the mushrooms that started it all. These days, she’s creating a lot of those mushroom sculptures and it’s hard not to dream when you check out her Instagram grid. In fact, if you purchase one of her handmade glow-in-the-dark bandannas, you’ll be entered to win one of her handmade glowing mushrooms.