Chiang Mai Journal of Science

 The bitter mushrooms (Tylopilus alboater) are generally found in eucalyptus forest in the northeastern part of Thailand.  It contains a bitter taste and need to be heated by boiling and steaming in order to reduce the bitterness.  Therefore, this research is to focus on the effects of heat treatment on antioxidant compounds, total polyphenolic compounds and flavonoids, along with radical scavenging activity of the mushroom.  In addition, proximate analysis was also investigated.  The results showed that the proximate chemical compositions of dried bitter mushroom (100 g) contained 20.63–21.60 g of crude protein, 0.91–1.00 g of crude fat, 16.23–17.99 g of fiber and 6.62–6.98 g crude ash.  Moreover, it contained 1.65 g of beta glucan/100 g dried mushroom.  The fresh bitter mushrooms (100 g) included 20.83 mg of GAE/100 g mushroom and 28.19 mg of cathechin/100 g of mushrooms.  After boiled the mushroom at 15 and 30 min, the total polyphenolic and flavonoid contents were obviously decreased due to leaching process whereas the contents of steamed mushroom were slightly reduced.  However, the DPPH radical scavenging activity of heated mushrooms was higher than fresh mushrooms.  The boiled mushrooms exhibited the highest activity.  These suggested that the boiling method was a better way to get more benefits from bitter mushroom rather than steaming.