Advances in metabolomics to optimize quality parameters of culinary mushrooms

Mushroom is a well-known food valued for its pleasant taste and medicinal benefits. Commercialization of mushrooms is quite challenging due to their perishability; their chemical composition fluctuates in response to many factors such as genotype, geographical origin, pre- and postharvest handling, and processing, leading to inconsistencies in functionality. Understanding how these metabolites respond to such factors is a prerequisite to optimizing mushroom handling of mushrooms for consumer needs. This review discusses how metabolomics has enhanced our understanding of mushroom quality at the molecular level. Once translated, this basic information can address numerous challenges associated with mushroom commercialization. This study comprehensively reviews and criticizes recent metabolomics-based research on culinary mushrooms. Metabolomics is often used to explore how mushroom metabolites respond to various pre- and post-harvest handling conditions (genotype, storage condition, drying, and packaging). Using multivariate data analysis, the impact of metabolite changes on the physicochemical and organoleptic profiles (color, aroma, taste, and flavor) of various mushrooms can be clarified. Metabolomics has not yet been used optimally to link mushroom metabolite responses to their functionalities in various processed foods.