editor's blog

I didn't realize I was such a radical, but I have been finding all these Michael Pollan videos online recently and the more I watch and read the guy the more I believe he might be the savior of the human race.

I have a belief that due to the cost of energy and crude oil, the way we have been growing, harvesting processing and distributing our food is about to change. In fact, I think the 60 or so years since WW II will be looked back on as an anomaly by future generations.

The question is, do we handle the problem with a smart and innovative replacement system, or do we move on to some dark Monsanto meets Soylent Green future. It is something to think about. In fact, think about it the next time you are at the grocery store.

This is an easy and good way to make pizza with your summer tomatoes: Pizza Blanca. I made mine with some garlic sauce, red and green heirloom tomatoes, and Parmesan cheese. I'm still trying to decide if the tomatoes are better over or under the cheese.

• 1 store bought or homemade pizza crust
• 1 big spoonful aioli or garlic sauce
• Heirloom Tomatoes
• Fresh Grated Parmesan
• Salt and Pepper

Eric Ripert demonstrates how to make parmesan zucchini with balsamic vinegar in a toaster oven.

This is part two of a lecture by Michael Pollan. Big agriculture executives all over the world can't sleep because of this guy. I have been aware of most of the ideas he talks about since I was a kid, but there is no way I could talk about it so intelligently. So I will just post this guy to my website so you can bask in his genius. If you want more, read the book.

Molecular gastronomy is hot. Or cold as the case may be. While you can make cool stuff by taking some liquid nitrogen to raspberry puree like this fellow, or zapping some herbs with a laser, sometimes you need some really specialized equipment ;-) We have found several excellent sites that sell food additives and equipment used in molecular gastronomy. One of the sites also has some really cool recipes and we are busy adding them to the recipe search engine.


www.le-sanctuaire.com - This site is really cool and has a huge selection of spherification additives, gelification additives, fruit purees, nut pastes, coloring powders, texture modifiers, technological sugars truffles and other specialty foods. The site is a bit janky but worth it for all the cool stuff they offer.


www.willpowder.net - This site is operated by Will Goldfarb, a molecular gastronomy enthusiast, pastry wonderkind, and restaurateur. Specialty pastry supplies, including emulsification, spherification, flavor/spice, gelification, thickening and foam.


www.texturaselbulli.com - This is a line of MG products released by El Bulli, the spanish restaurant famous for starting the movement. The site is nice, and there are videos describing how to use each product, but there is no online store so you will have to select from the list of distributors and order from them.

So every time you come back to Five Mushrooms it looks a little different...


We are growing very quickly, and getting lots of feedback about what people like and don't like about the site. The editors of this site are all former or current chefs, so we are not afraid to try different things, mix it up a bit and see what works and what doesn't.


Hopefully as the dust settles things will stabilize, but we aren't afraid to scrub features people don't like, and add ones people ask for.

This is a bit heady and off topic but very interesting. It just goes to show how important mushrooms are, and not just because they are tasty!