It’s Fun Fact Friday, and today’s foodie tip pertains to mushrooms and their amazing ability to produce vitamin D. Fancy that!
You may or may not know that humans produce vitamin D in their skin, in response to sunlight (which is why our vitamin D levels often dip during winter months). But it’s only in recent years that scientists have discovered that mushrooms have a similar ability - they use a chemical called ergosterol, which reacts with sunlight to make vitamin D in various forms.
You can now buy ‘vitamin D enriched’ mushrooms in the supermarket – which have been purposefully exposed to UV light in order to switch on their remarkable vitamin D generating powers. But here’s an insider tip: you can just buy regular old mushrooms and do it yourself at home by giving them a short burst on the windowsill or outside in the sun . Careful though not keep your shrooms sitting out in the hot sun for too long, lest they wither and get the sun stroke.
According to the experts at https://australianmushrooms.com.au/ 100g of mushrooms, when exposed to sunlight for 1 hour, will provide our daily requirement for vitamin D. The vitamin D levels are then locked in – even if you put them back in the dark fridge. And we think that Friday foodie fact is pretty cool.
