Paddy Straw Agar Plate

Description

Volvariella volvacea (also known as paddy straw mushroom or straw mushroom) is a species of edible mushroom cultivated throughout East and Southeast Asia and used extensively in Asian cuisines.

They are often available fresh in Asia, but are more frequently found in canned or dried forms outside their nations of cultivation. Worldwide, straw mushrooms rank third in consumption, although their use in the West is somewhat uncommon and usually confined to use in Oriental cooking. In their button stage, straw mushrooms resemble poisonous death caps, but can be distinguished by several mycological features, including their pink spore print (spore prints of death caps are white).

The two mushrooms have different distributions, with the death cap generally not found where the straw mushroom grows natively, but immigrants, particularly those from Southeast Asia to California and Australia, have been poisoned due to misidentification.

Some photos on this page have been sourced from iNaturalist, taken by Joel Trejos or others. Licensed under CC-BY-SA.