Cremini (or Brown) Mushroom Guidelines - CHOW Tip

Far West Fungi manager Ian Garrone describes what you should be looking for when buying a brown mushroom, whether you should eat the stem, and what the underside "veil" of the mushroom means.

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TRANSCRIPT
Browns are the common mushroom that you'll find. They're also known as Cremini's and they're actually very similar to a white mushroom but they have more flavor. They're twenty to thirty percent drier so they don't shrink as much when you cook them. And what you're looking for is the cleanest mushroom you can find and when you go home you're just going to do a circular motion with a moist paper towel. I usually eat the stem. You are going to have to cut it down to get rid of the base. A closed veil is a sign of freshness. Open mushrooms have a little more flavor to them. They're not as firm and they won't last as long.