Forgot about keeping your mushrooms final moments in the dark.. put them in the sun and reap the Vit D.  As a Canadian and all of us that live in the northern climates, we are told to take Vit D in late fall and all winter as we do not get enough sun properly produce Vit D in our body’s.

Mushrooms Have Vitamin D

*15% Daily Value (DV) is considered a lot of vitamin D per serving.
Mushrooms are the only vegetable that contains Vitamin D, naturally. All other natural food sources of Vitamin D are of animal, poultry or seafood origin. Also, some foods, such as milk, orange juice and cereals may be fortified with Vitamin D, up to 100 IU.
Cultivated mushrooms contain a plant sterol called ergosterol, which is the precursor of Vitamin D². In fresh mushrooms, ergosterol is stimulated to convert to Vitamin D² by ultraviolet light, either from sunlight or artificial lights.
The vitamin D levels of common varieties of mushrooms are listed below for a standard 100 g serving. 200 IU recommended for adults up to the age of 50.
Adding Vitamin D to Fresh Mushrooms
It has been demonstrated in recent studies that the level of Vitamin D² in White/Brown mushrooms can be increased significantly (up to 100% of the Daily Value), by exposure to ultraviolet light for a few minutes, either pre-harvest or post-harvest. When this technology is perfected, Super-D mushrooms may be available, to the public, as a vegetable source of Vitamin D.  Mushroom Canada”

I am sure that you know that we create Vit D by getting sunlight on our skin and they have had big studies that this is something that most Canadian’s and those living in the northern climate all around the globe do not have enough in our winters and it effects our health.

From what I can see these mushroom studies came out in 2017 and I somehow missed them? Did you see them? Have you worked with them in this way?

What they have been able to study and prove is that Mushrooms like us produce Vit D when exposed to sunlight.. and so they did a pretty good study that shows if you place your mushroom portion in sunlight for 60 min before cooking (and they say that Vit D in the mushroom is heat stable) it will actively start producing vit D

Click to access Commercialization-of-Vitamin-D-Enhanced-Mushrooms.pdf

What they did was control test people’s vit d by blood work and they had group A on Vit D pill form and Group B on sunlight triggered mushroom Vit D and what they found at the end of it was the mushrooms exposed to sunlight did as good of job getting Vit D active in the people’s body’s.. but the mushrooms also helped make Vit D 2 and D 3 more bioavailable.

I find this very interesting to say the least and will continue to do more reading and research.. but I also plan on sun bathing my mushrooms this winter..

The real question is would my UV grow lights work for snow days?