To Wash, Or Not to Wash

That is the question...

It's up there with some of the great conundrums: Paper or plastic? Invisibility or the ability to fly? Ginger or Mary Ann? Should you wash your mushrooms before cooking/eating them?

Growing up, I liked to make salads for my family. I'd wash, peel, and cut the vegetables, toss them in a bowl with half a bottle of Marie's Thousand Island dressing and place them out for my family. But what of the mushrooms? I was taught to wash and dry them.

But in the years since I've been chastised for such a culinary error of judgment. Don't get the mushrooms soggy! They'll be slimy! Mushrooms absorb water so they'll taste like WATER! Don't ruin them! Don't take one step closer to the sink with that bowl of mushrooms or you'll be walking home to Milbridge tonight! Actually that last one is part of another story.

So I haven't been washing them. I usually take a damp paper towel, wipe off the dirt (or other unidentifiable grunge if they're foraged) and prepare to cut.

Felicity Cloake at guardian.co.uk has thrown her hat in the ring and written an interesting (and highly entertaining) article about this very question. Calling up research from some of our great culinary minds, she not only tackles the question but puts both methods to the test. In one corner, the thoroughly washed and in the other, the thoroughly whisked. It's a taste test for the ages.

Her result? Well, you'll just have to read it.

Okay, okay... if you don't like clicking links I'll tell you that she found the washed lot slightly juicier. An exciting verdict? Not really. But hey, it's the middle of January in New England and it's snowing. I can't exactly go outside and look for chanterelles, so you'll have to take what you can get.