'Shroom 101: The shopper's guide to mushrooms

Oyster mushrooms
Available as brown, grey, pink and yellow, these mushrooms have a delicate flavour and texture. Cook them lightly and quickly with fish and in stir-fries.

Shiitake mushrooms
With their unique chewy texture and meaty flavour, these mushrooms are excellent in sauces to serve with game and red meats or in oriental dishes. Trim off the stalks as they can be tough.

Horse mushrooms
These have long stems and either white or pale yellow caps. They have a distinctive aniseed fragrance with a texture similar to the white mushroom.

Blewit mushrooms
Look for blue-tinted stalks and white caps and cook them thoroughly to bring out their fragrant taste. Delicious fried with bacon or cooked in creamy sauces, casseroles and risottos.

Enoki mushrooms
These mushrooms, originally only available in Japan, are crisp and white with long thin stems and tiny white caps. They are best eaten in salads or tossed into stir-fries at the last minute.

Mushroom recipes

Speedy Mushroom Soup
Roasted Garlic Mushrooms
Mushroom Lasagne
Chicken and Mushroom Stir-fry
Mushroom and Chestnut Stuffing for Roast Chicken
Salmon with Mushroom Salsa

Recipes taken from Mmm...Mushrooms by Victoria Lloyd-Davies (Simon & Schuster #6.99). Available from the Mushroom Bureau for #5 including postage and packing. Please send postal orders or cheques payable to Mushroom Bureau, 27 King Edward Walk, London SE1 7PR.

Also available on Amazon.

Visit the Mushroom Bureau website.