Perpetratin' an exoticism: of portabellas, creminis, and other Italian forgeries

by Sarah Gilbert, Posted Sep 14th 2005 @ 12:29PM

portabellos and creminis I remember when I first discovered the beauty of the brown-skinned, woodsy, more flavorful cremini mushroom. It put my mother's button mushrooms to shame, it was a symphony sauteed in butter and garlic. And then, there was the day when I found portabellos. They were so... big. And so very similar to creminis. But they're Italian, right?

Umm, wrong. "Portabello" is a marketing name made up to sound Italian; portabellos (sometimes called portobellos) are just grown-up creminis. And the marketing people discovered they'd hit pay dirt with their vaguely Tuscan mushroom name and at some point in the mid-to-late nineties started marketing "Baby Bellas" or "baby portabello" mushrooms. At one grocery store in New York in 1998 I came across a crate of cremini mushrooms, $2.99 per pound. On the other end of the mushroom display: eight ounces of "baby bellas." $2.49. The EXACT same item, with an Italian name, for over twice as much.

It pays to know your mushrooms.

How can you use this knowledge? Well, first, don't buy "baby bellas" unless they're comparable in price to cremini (or crimini, sometimes) mushrooms. Second, as portabellos are always more expensive given their additional growing time, only use them when you're taking advantage of their size; in applications such as grilled portabello sandwiches (marinate briefly with olive oil, garlic and herbs; splash a bit of balsamic vinegar over the finished product, salt, and serve with your favorite sandwich fixings; great with cured meats like pepperoni), or Asian stir-fries and salads (saute briefly in oil, garlic, ginger and a splash of soy sauce). If you're chopping and dicing, or mixing with strong flavors as in tomato sauces, stick with the smaller, cheaper creminis.

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Filed Under: Business, Stores & Shopping, Ingredients
Tags: mediterranean, stores-and-shopping, vegetables