Economic, nutritional and medicinal value of edible wild mushrooms

Wild edible mushrooms (WEM) have high economic and culinary value, due to their nutritional and medical properties. They are regarded as functional foods, as well as of the nutritional properties that they have, it has been shown to have beneficial health effects and may be used in the prevention or treatment of diseases. It's therapeutic action is attributed to the bioactive compounds that they have in their fruiting bodies. Although, globally, it has only been studied for 6% of the fungal diversity. There is a wide range of WEM which can be consumed safely and that can be exploited for the development food products, therefore it is necessary to promote future researches with WEM to reveal more information about their health benefits, because currently available information is still scanty. In this paper the importance of studying the WEM were described, the physical and chemical characteristics and the bioactive compounds of the most popular genus of mushroom in the food area were also described in order to know their nutritional and therapeutic benefits, eliminate false beliefs around them and encourage consumption.