Characteristics of a cheese-like food produced by fermentation of the mushroom Schizophyllum commune

Lactate bacteria of the Lactobacillus and Streptococcus genera are normally employed in cheese making because these microbes have potent ability to produce lactate dehydrogenase. A milk-clotting enzyme is also necessary to make cheese. Recently, we discovered that some mushroom genera produce both lactate dehydrogenase and a milk-clotting enzyme. Using the mushroom Schizophyllum commune in place of a lactate bacterium, we produced a cheese-like food that contained about 0.58% β- d-glucan, which has been shown to have preventive effects against cancer. The food also exhibited thrombosis prevention activity, prolonging the thrombin clotting time to 49.6-fold that of the control.