Fungi in Our Every Day Lives: Fungus is in Everything From Our Food to Our Clothing
I certainly was under the impression that stone washed jeans became that way by having someone wash them with some form of liquid and allowing them to dry, or have them rubbed with some kind of stones! I could not be more wrong on every count. One day while reading some technical book I found to my amazement that the stone washed jeans were produced by soaking them in a large vessel containing fungus, which in turn products an enzyme that imparts that washed out look because the enzyme partially “eats” the cotton fiber!
Let’s go back to food again. There’s a wealth of data out there about fungus.
Some of us don’t have the time for a decent meal or can’t afford one. Well, I would not suggest even for a moment eating a can of pork and beans. Beans create flatus and it can be embarrassing in some places! To take care of the flatulence you need to take a pill: BeanoTM which contains an enzyme that reduces the flatulence. And that enzyme, by the way is another fungus prepared one.
No Chinese meal is complete unless it is accompanied by Soy Sauce. Well, the authentic soy sauce uses three step processes, each with a different fungus as well as bacterium!
Yet another Chinese dish, the Peking Duck, before its cooking is rubbed with a red colored substance, which I learned later was red yeast (another fungi !) to give the duck its color. It is interesting to note that this yeast they use in marinating the duck has cholesterol lowering drug! This yeast is also used in rice, and is available as red yeast rice!
We hope we have been able to dispel many of the myths surrounding fungus. It has, just like every natural and synthetic substance a good side and a bad side. The idea is to take the good, and avoid the bad.
Read more about fungus in our lives:
Fungus: Role in Medication
Is Fungus Good or Bad? Interesting Facts About Fungi
The authors would like to thank numerous authorities they consulted on the internet, and acknowledge their contribution to these articles. No particular mention is made of any, not for not acknowledging their contribution, but because the contributions are so numerous that it might itself become a veritable book! Thank you very much indeed. No copyright infringement is intended or deliberate.
