Fungi, New and Mold Trivia Quiz

Answer: Baker's yeast

Baker's yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, is best when fresh, but dried yeast as shown in the picture is easier to keep on hand for quick use. It is activated by soaking it in warm water before mixing it with the flour. The yeast ingests sugar present in the dough, and produces carbon dioxide as one of the products of respiration. The dough traps the gas, and it forms bubbles, the size of which, and the consequent fluffiness of the bread, depends on the grain used, and on the other ingredients in the mix.

The other three options are also leavening agents, but not fungi. Lactobacillus bacteria are used in conjunction with Saccharomyces exiguous, another type of yeast, to produce sourdough bread.

Answer: Destroying angel mushroom

Please do not put the deadly Destroying angel mushroom on your pizza! Agaricus bisporus is one of the most commonly eaten mushrooms around the world, with different strains being given different names (as well as the same strain having different regional appellations).

They do not all look or taste the same - to my taste, the brown cultivars have a richer taste than the white ones. Any mushroom with one of the following names is (almost certainly) a kind of A. bisporus: white mushroom, common mushroom, champignon (usually only used for small ones with an unopened cap), crimini, Swiss brown, Italian brown, and Portobello (usually only applied to a mature mushroom with a fully opened cap). One large Portobello will yield enough mushroom for an entire pizza.

Answer: Soy sauce

All of these sauces could be used to add an Asian flavor to your cooking, but only soy sauce is traditionally produced by fermentation. (It should be noted that there are commercial processes that use chemical means to obtain the sauce, but they are generally considered an inferior product.) Boiled soybeans and roasted grain (such as wheat) are mixed with a mold from the Aspergillus genus, usually A. oryzae.

The mold breaks down the starches into simple sugars, and the proteins into amino acids and/or larger protein fragments. Subsequent processing involves the addition of various other ingredients such yeast, lactobacillus bacteria, salt; varying the amounts of these and the duration of the processing introduces a range of different colors, textures and flavors into the finished product.

While they are all brown, the color can range from a golden shade to a deep brown that is nearly black. Soy sauce in one form or another is used in the cuisine of most Asian countries, although the thin, salty Chinese version is the most familiar to many.

The thick sweet Indonesian ketjap manis is a key ingredient to producing satay sauce.

Answer: Shiitake

The Japanese name for these mushrooms is shiitake, from the word 'shii', the name of the kind of tree on which they grow (an evergreen related to the oak), and 'take', meaning mushroom. They are also called Chinese black mushrooms and golden oak mushrooms. Shiitake are used both fresh and dried. Dried shiitake are preferred by some, as the drying process intensifies the presence of their umami flavor; they are rehydrated before use.

It is common to discard the stems unless the mushrooms are being cooked for a long time, as they tend to be tough.

Answer: Enoki

Enoki mushrooms grown in the wild look very different from the cultivated ones shown, which I plan to use. Wild ones have a much shorter and thicker stem, similar to many other types of mushroom, while cultivated ones are grown in an atmosphere with an increased level of carbon dioxide, to promote the growth of the long stem. Wild ones are dark brown, but cultivated ones are white because they are not exposed to sunlight. Cultivated enokitake are usually about 10cm long; left whole, they add an interesting touch to the visual presentation of a dish.

Answer: Yes

Quorn has been produced in the UK since 1985 by growing the soil mold Fusarum venenatum (strain PTA-2684) in fermentation tanks. The mycoprotein that is produced is extracted and further treated and dried before being mixed with egg white to bind it. Texture and flavoring agents then make the product resemble either minced meat or pressed loafs (like a chicken loaf, made by compressing offcut bits of chicken).

While it is usually used in a stew or casserole, it can be chopped over the top of a pizza to produce a vegetarian (but not vegan) 'meaty' pizza.

Answer: Oyster mushroom

The name Pleurotus comes from the Greek words 'pleure', meaning side, and 'otos', meaning ear. Members of this genus typically grow with little or no stem, and the caps attached laterally to their food source. Oyster mushrooms, also called abalone mushrooms and tree mushrooms, grow in many parts of the world, and the identification of species from appearance is very difficult, since local conditions can make members of the same species look more different from each other than from members of other species.

Answer: Mozzarella

While mozzarella, either by itself or mixed with other cheeses, makes an excellent gooey melted cheese topping for my other pizzas, it is not a blue cheese. Blue cheeses are produced by the action of molds in the genus Penicillium on the cheese curd.

Some blue cheeses have the mold spores mixed through before the curds form, some have them injected at a later stage of the process. In any case, the result is a cheese with blue or green veins and a strong flavor (and, usually, a strong smell).

Answer: Piglet

The Romans called them 'suilli', meaning hog mushrooms. It is not clear whether this is because they resemble small pigs in their immature form, or because pigs love to eat them. It's probably a case of "a little from column A, and a little from column B", to quote Grandpa Simpson.

The English penny bun, the German Steinpilz, the Dutch eekhoorntjesbrood and the California king bolete are variants of the same species.

Answer: Beer

Beers and wines are produced by the action of yeast to change sugars into alcohol. The yeast used is often Saccharomyces cerevisiae, the same yeast used to make my pizza crusts, only now it is going to be called brewer's yeast instead of baker's yeast.

This time we are initially more interested in the alcohol that is produced than in the carbon dioxide, although if we want to produce beer or sparkling wine the process will eventually include making sure that some of the carbon dioxide remains dissolved in the finished product.