Bad Mushrooms

[BelovedofIsis]

I recently bought a package of portobellos at the local store they were in the fridge for four days, took them out and sauted them and added them to some quinoa. Both my husband and I were violently sick that night but fine by morning. (classic food poisoning)

They looked and smelled fine, no excess moisture, no "bruising", and no mold. I highly doubt it was the quinoa.

How long do mushrooms stay good? I have bought button mushrooms from two other places and had them in the fridge for up to 2 weeks and they were fine.

[mariacarmen]

Your heading made me laugh - i thought you were scolding your mushrooms at first glance. Sorry you got sick!

[BelovedofIsis]

Ah yes LOL I can see how that reads! LOL its ok it was gotten over quickly just a late night of praying to the porcelain god with out the copious amount of alcohol before hand. sadly.

[mariacarmen]

what a waste of good kneeling time!

[BelovedofIsis]

that's what he said. lmao

[Phurstluv]

OMG - LMAO!!! I can always count on you MariaC, to make me smile or giggle!!!

BelovedofIsis (LOVE that moniker, btw!!) you should keep your mushrooms in a brown paper bag, it tends to breathe better than plastic, and tends to keep them fresher. I don't always do it either, since I usually buy them in the SM in that little styro container covered with plastic, but if you buy them loose, that's what to put them in. That's what the mushroom man told me at the Farmer's Market before.

But feel better, there is NOTHING worse than food poisoning. Hopefully, you're both fully recovered.

[Alan408]

It may have not been the mushrooms, but something "on" the mushrooms.

Latest "food poisoning" alert I heard was grape tomatoes. It isn't the tomatoes, but something "on" the tomatoes. Big one, about 5 years ago, was spinach. But, it wasn't spinach, it was something "on" the spinach.

[Quine]

Would you define "classic food poisoning" for me?

[BelovedofIsis]

Typically when experiencing food poisoning you will either vomit within 2-4 hours or 6-12 hours of ingesting the culprit, followed by or including loose bowel movements, gas, and abdominal pain. The time frames matter as to what organism is making you sick, most healthy people will only be sick for 24hrs, other can be sick up to 3 days, again depending on the offending organism and your over all health.

[goodhealthgourmet]

unless you had a bacterial culture done to find out which organism made you sick or had the mushrooms tested and identified a contaminant or pathogen in them, there's no way to know it was the mushrooms. there are numerous organisms that cause food-borne illness, and with the ones that have a longer incubation period symptoms don't present until several days after exposure. it could have been *anything* that both of you ate within the previous 24-72 hours.

[BelovedofIsis]

Yes I know all about the cultures and the reason why I do them. I'm a lab technician ;)
We were kicking around the idea that it may not have been food poisoning rather a reaction to a chemical that was on them. Trust me after a trip to Morocco I am intimately acquainted with the bugger who likes to wait three days to hit........ugh.
However I would still like to know the answer to my question:
About how long are mushrooms good for, kept in the fridge?

[pikawicca]

If they look good, smell fine, and aren't slimy, they're good. How long they last in your fridge depends on how long they've been hanging around before you bought them. I always use them within 2-3 days of purchase.

[c oliver]

And I've cooked the daylights out of some that were edging towards slimy :)

To OP: You and you SO could have contracted a virus from any number of sources that had nothing to do with food.

[BelovedofIsis]

This is very true too, the timing just always makes me suspicious, and with my ibs I can be more sensitive than others when it comes to food being on the edge of spoiled, which is why I use my husband as my control group. I have had a previous episode like this after eating at a fish fast food restaurant (which I will not name) but in that case I was the only one who got sick and not my other half. Then there was the week of hell when I did get a virus and I was subsisting on ice only for days, I lived in the bathroom.

[ospreycove]

When preparing Portobello Mushrooms, a commercial chef, (restaurant working owner) I know, always scrapes the gills out of the Portobellos before cooking, he does this with a spoon. He says the gills are not "tasty" and detract from the flavor of the mushroom. Maybe more than not tasting good they might be slightly toxic to some??

[goodhealthgourmet]

i was so focused on the food poisoning part that i overlooked your refrigeration question. sorry about that :)

pikawicca pretty much hit the nail on the head - it has a lot to do with how fresh they are when you buy them. as long as you don't suffocate them in plastic they can usually last for up to 7 days in the fridge, but obviously always use the smell test, and toss them if they're slimy. honestly, you'll know if your mushrooms are bad/spoiled...unfortunately, as you also know, you won't be able to determine with the naked eye if they're harboring illness-causing nasties.

[BelovedofIsis]

Its ok, I appreciate the responses either way.

[maka100]

Maybe it was quinoa poisoning?
Wiki says:
The Toxicity category rating of Quinoa saponins are classified as a mild eye and respiratory irritant and a low gastrointestinal irritant.

[BelovedofIsis]

We have had quinoa several times before and it was the same brand. Didn't bother us before. However that is very interesting, might need to watch the frequency of eating the grain with my ibs.