VestriDeus - 4-2-2010 at 20:48
This question has always plagued me. Nutrition-wise, they have like 3% carbohydrate and 3% protein, and like no lipid.
So what the f--k are they made of?!?!
(as dry mass; of course pretty much every living thing will be made mostly of water)
[Edited on 5-2-2010 by VestriDeus]
crazyboy - 4-2-2010 at 21:12
Water, chitin and minerals such as calcium, manganese, copper and iron.
psychokinetic - 4-2-2010 at 23:19
THETANS!
*ahem*.
Nicodem - 5-2-2010 at 05:36
The major component of any fungi is water just like for any living organism.
Apparently there is much less chitin in mushrooms as one would tend to believe: "The chitin content of 15 species of field grown edible mushrooms was
in the range of 1.87–6.93% of total dry mass and 34.51–67.72% of isolated fungin." (cf. DOI: 10.1007/BF01091469)
There are many carbohydrates other than chitin present as well: http://news.illinois.edu/NEWS/05/0214mushrooms.html
Please open referenceless threads only in the Beginnings section where I'm moving this any way.
Rich_Insane - 7-2-2010 at 20:43
Mushrooms are made mostly of filamentous cells called hyphae. Most of the actual mushroom is usually underground.
Basically, that fruiting body you see is the reproductive organ of the fungi. It's made of filamentous cells as well; those are primarily made of
chitin and cell membrane. I imagine that there are some cations like Cu 2+ and Manganese in there. It's mostly minerals probably. There aren't very
many energy rich lipids or carbohydrates, because the edible part of the mushroom is not for energy production. Although each cell produces energy,
the energy is not stored in the fruiting body.
not_important - 7-2-2010 at 23:33
They're mostly water - 80 to 90 percent. Some detailed analysis can be found here
http://www.mushroomcouncil.org/export/sites/default/Nutritio... ( MS DOC file)
http://bibliotecadigital.ipb.pt/bitstream/10198/834/1/JAFC%2... (PDF)
psychokinetic - 8-2-2010 at 00:36
That's quite amazing to read. It's not really something you think about, but when you do - you have no idea.
Even though I didn't ask the question, I thank you guys for asnwering 
JohnWW - 10-2-2010 at 03:17
I have read somewhere that mushrooms also contain cobalt and B-group vitamins. Poisonous species contain certain polypeptides that cause lethal liver
damage. BTW, What about "magic mushrooms", and their psilocybin content?
I remember hearing somewhere that politicians treat people like mushrooms - they keep them "in the dark" and feed them lots of excrement.