Evaluation and Characterization of Nutritive Properties of the Jelly Ear Culinary-Medicinal Mushroom Auricularia auricula-judae (Agaricomycetes) from Nigeria

This study investigated the nutritive properties of the culinary-medicinal mushroom Auricularia auriculajudae. From the analysis, among the major minerals, potassium was found in the highest concentration, with a value of 172.03 +/- 8.62 mg/kg, whereas manganese had the highest concentration among trace elements, with a value of 1.66 +/- 0.11 mg/kg. Glutamic acid was the amino acid detected in the largest amounts in this study, with a value of 10.09 +/- 1.86 mg/kg. Although glutamine and asparagine were not detected in this mushroom, cysteine and methionine had the lowest concentrations, with values of 0.34 +/- 0.01 and 0.80 +/- 0.03 mg/kg, respectively. The predominant oil was 9,12-octadecadienoic acid (Z,Z) methyl ester, with retention times of 21.246 and 21.715 minutes, and comprising percentages of the total of 4.309 and 47.385, respectively.