I hope that many of you have tried my recipe for Grilled Trumpet Royale mushrooms with Garam Masala. If not look here. -- When I excitedly offered a taste of my Trumpet Royale with Garam Masala to an Indian Chef she smiled and said, "Oh yes. Sometimes we call that Mushroom Spice." And here I'd thought that I was the first to discover this delicious synergy! The association of mushrooms with Indian cuisine is a long one. "Curried Mushrooms under Glass" was a staple of what passed for fine cuisine in the 50s and 60s. Mushrooms can become the feature in entrees featuring a variety of Indian presentations. I'm fond of lentil dal, and although it's easy to make, you can also find delicious ready-to-eat dal at many stores. To turn dal into a vegetarian feast, saute some mushrooms (Trumpet Royale, Nebrodini Bianco, Forest Nameko or Velvet Pioppini) in mild vegetable oil until fully cooked, then add dal and serve over white or brown rice. The dal and rice together form a complete protein, and the mushrooms add what would otherwise be missing - something to chew! If you're ready to try a more adventurous, from-scratch, recipe, you can't go wrong with this great recipe from a fellow blogger for Mushroom and Eggplant Vindaloo.

Uusally I want to talk about harvests and recipes and such, but today I feel like bragging about what we've helped to create in America's kitchens.

When Gourmet Mushrooms was founded in 1977 "Specialty Mushrooms" was not a category in the produce business. Now we are A TREND!

"Purchases of specialty mushrooms climbed four percentage points from Fresh Trends 2008. As was the case last year, the likelihood of purchase increased according to income." -- Also increasing among the younger age groups, which means - we are raising a new crop of Fungiphiles!

Click on this not-very-tiny-URL for the Whole Story

http://thepacker.com/Mushrooms--specialty/FreshTrends.aspx?articleid=274081&authorid=22&categoryid=122&feedid=255