It seems this is rather debateable, so I’d like to hear what the cooks on here think please.
Do you wash, or not wash, Mushrooms before use?
I have always found them to go all slippery and change texture if I do, so have stopped doing it.
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I always wash them and dab them dry with kitchen roll, never noticed a change in texture
I always wash them and scrub off the grit/soil
I don’t notice a difference in texture though
All “wild” mushrooms MUST be washed and dried - some, like chanterelles or black trumpets, will be contaminated with bacteria and bugs.
Privately cultivated mushrooms may be be cleaned using a dry cloth or paper towel to wipe off the excess ‘dirt’ they are grown in, and rinsed in cold water if required.
Commercial mushrooms are grown in a compost that’s practically sterile. The soil is heat-treated at tightly controlled temperatures to remove common plant pathogens like mold, bacteria, viruses, worms, bugs and slugs. This process kills nearly all microorganisms - cooking will kill the rest. Wiping should be sufficient.
If in doubt, rinse in cold water and allow to dry out completely on paper towels.
I have never washed them Mups, in fact, I never wash any food. I always think that once it goes into the pan or the oven, the heat will kill any bacteria and seeing as we wash stuff in cold water anyway, I can’t see what good it can do.
I never wash mushrooms but I do peel them 
Oooh, I say! :-p
I wash them but don’t peel them. Meg, why do you peel them…? Genuinely curious because I have never heard of this before.
Ditto - but not button mushrooms - they’re far too fiddly. Field mushrooms have to be peeled imo but I never wash them - cooking them properly is enough to kill all the bugs and nasties that might be luking.
I wash any wild ones I have gathered but otherwise - no - just cook and enjoy. I love mushrooms!
If anyone has a smartphone, there’s free apps to identify mushrooms, to see which are safe to eat.
I wipe mine Mups but don’t wash them.
I only tend to buy the button mushrooms and they have very little soil on them anyway
I never wash my mushrooms,I wipe them with a kitchen towel ,cultivated ones are usually clean, I don’t peel them.
I only peel the big flat mushrooms, but not the button ones. I always wash them under a running tap and dry with kitchen paper.
I used to be fussy about using mushrooms up quickly, until I read somewhere that Jamie Oliver recommends they’re at their tastiest when they’re ‘just about to go over’. So now I don’t throw them when they’ve changed colour, and look a bit bruised. He’s right, they are really tasty then!
This is really interesting, seeing all the different beliefs and procedures with the preparation of the humble mushroom.
Like others have said, if I buy the tiny buttons, I don’t peel them, but the bigger ones where the outer skin comes off easily, then I do peel. I don’t wash any unless they visibly dirty.
Occasionally there is a small blob of soil in the cultivated ones, which I just either knock off or wash off, but I don’t wash them otherwise.
I have never been brave enough to identify and pick wild mushrooms, so that part doesn’t apply to me.
Thanks for the input everybody, there doesn’t seem to be a definite Right or Wrong way according to our collective ideas so far.
I’m another peeler, have always peeled them but never washed them.
I have a “forager” friend who occasionally comes across wild edible puffball mushrooms like this one:
Once lifted and taken home, he likes to “bread” and fry them, like this:
https://i.redd.it/x0b9if0di7q11.jpg
Not exactly a delicacy … 
Oooh! Omah, that looks amazing!
Good grief Omah. :shock:
That would keep us quiet for a while, munching your way through that one.