Mushroom mycelium as a potential source of food flavour

There is an increasing demand for natural ingredients and flavours by the food industry. Submerged fermentation is a fast and attractive technology for the production of highly flavoured muschroom biomass, which is otherwise produced by traditional time- and labour-consuming methods. Typical flavour compounds synthesized by muschrooms include volatiles derived from the metabolism of fatty acids, especially the 'mushroom alcohol' 1-octen-3-ol. However, biotechnological improvements are required to achieve flavour levels satisfactory for commercial application.