Pleurotus djamor
Description
This tropical oyster mushroom is a stunning pink color and resembles the flavor of seafood.
Pleurotus djamor mushroom should be picked young, as they age the fragrance intensifies and is less desirable, and the color fades too as they enlarge, so we prefer to pick this mid-way through maturity and they store much better than older fruitbodies.
Can be grown year-round indoors or intercropped with greenhouse plant production in tropical climates and can fruit in as little as 7-10 days at temperatures around 85-90F.
The pink oyster is more productive than the golden oyster with yields similar to the more common market oyster strains. These mushrooms also need plenty of fresh air to develop normally. High carbon dioxide levels from mushroom metabolism will accumulate in sealed growing environments and may reduce cap size severely. Growth starts as a fast-growing white mycelium that ages to pink color. Primordia and young mushrooms are bright pink but become less intensely colored as the mushroom matures. The color disappears entirely after cooking.
Common names: Pink Oyster Mushroom.
Pleurotus djamor Extract Preparation
10 g of dried finely milled mushrooms soaked in 100 ml methanol for 24 hours, at room temperature under dark conditions. The procedure repeats twice and extract with whatmann No.1 filter paper.
Health Benefits
Few authors differentiate among the various oyster mushrooms when discussing health benefits, which on the one hand makes it difficult to research pink oyster mushrooms specifically, but on the other hand, does suggest that all the oysters have similar benefits. These benefits include an impressive nutritional profile and traditional use in folk medicine for various issues, including immune problems. At least preliminary research supports the usefulness of oyster mushrooms as potential sources of medicine, and some studies do address pink oysters specifically.
Nutrition
Mushrooms tend not to staple foods, in part because they contain a lot of water, meaning it’s necessary to eat very large quantities to get much in the way of nutrition—but what nutrition oyster mushrooms do have is of high quality. They are low-fat, have no cholesterol (only animal-based foods ever have any cholesterol), and are high in both protein and fiber, as well as some vitamins, most notably riboflavin and niacin.
Many people also appreciate oyster mushrooms as a way to pack a lot of flavor and texture into a meal without adding a lot of calories, meaning the very quality that makes the mushrooms a poor staple makes them a very healthy luxury food.
Anti-oxidant
Multiple studies have assessed the biochemistry of the pink mushroom specifically (and/or its white variant) and found many substances known to have medicinal value. One study, for example, specifically assessed the anti-oxidant effect of an extract of the mushroom and found that it is indeed strong enough that eating the mushroom likely has related health benefits. These were, however, strictly in vitro studies, not tests of actual treatments either in humans or in animal models.
Anti-bacterial
The Pink oyster mushroom was one of the species assessed for antibiotic activity against several species of disease-causing bacteria; although the pink oyster was not the most potent in the study, the differences were minimal, and the pink oyster extract was effective against the bacteria. Again, this was an in vitro study.
Anti-cancer
One study looked at methods of extracting a specific substance thought to have anti-tumor properties from pink mushroom oysters—and then used the substance to experimentally treat sarcoma in mice. The mice were divided into two groups, both of which were deliberately given cancer by injection with cancerous cells. One group was given the experimental treatment and the other was not. The treated group developed much smaller tumors than the untreated group.
A second study, also involving mice deliberately given cancer by injection, focused not on tumor size but on survival times. A pink oyster mushroom-derived substance was used to treat groups of mice at several different dosages. Two of the treatment groups survived for the length of the study, whereas many of the untreated mice died—however, the mice treated with a very high dose also died.
Immune System Support
One study involving groups of rats showed that an extract of pink oyster mushroom significantly increased a specific aspect of immune function. Curiously, the rats were not sick; instead, their immune systems were challenged with a substance expected to stimulate a response but not capable of causing real illness.
Vascular Support
One study looked at pink oyster mushrooms as a possible treatment for high cholesterol. Groups of otherwise normal rats were deliberately fed an extremely unhealthy diet, to give them high cholesterol. Some of these rats were also given mushroom extract. Those rats who did not get the extract did indeed develop high cholesterol, while those receiving the mushroom did not, remaining more similar to the rats receiving a standard diet.
Photo sources:
Photo 1 - Author: claralieu (CC BY-SA 2.0)
Photo 2 - Author: Zinnmann (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Photo 3 - Author: Zinnmann (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Photo 4 - Author: Holger Krisp (CC BY 3.0)
Photo 5 - Author: Zinnmann (CC BY-SA 3.0)
