Should you wash a mushroom or not?

Say wine, snacks or haute cuisine and the food lovers of online food magazine FavorFlav know where to drink, how to eat and what to cook. This time: once and for all clarity about whether or not to wash mushrooms.

I readily admit that it has been drilled into me as well: mushrooms and fungi should not be washed. A few swipes with that soft brush that resembles a mushroom itself, and you're done. Now, that is certainly sufficient for most supermarket specimens, but what if you get a nice batch of special shrooms with a nice authentic layer of dirt on them? To wash or not to wash?

Washing mushrooms?
Because perhaps you (just like I was) have also been indoctrinated by the anti-wash camp, which firmly claims that mushrooms and fungi once wet turn into a kind of spongy water bombs where the rinse water would practically spray out of your ears if you ate them after cooking. Rest assured; there are also highly regarded voices that prove the opposite:

Professor Fungi
Because a mushroom is already made up of about eighty to ninety percent water by itself. So, not much more can be absorbed. Reliable sources like Kenji Lopez Alt from Serious Eats, food guru Harold McGee in his book Curious Cook, and the renowned magazine Cook’s Illustrated have conducted extensive research. Lopez Alt, for example, concluded that a mushroom absorbs only a small two percent of its own weight in water (and those things hardly weigh anything as you know) and that translates to an extra fifteen to thirty seconds of cooking time. All concluded that you could wash mushrooms well under running water (and possibly pat them dry) and even recommended it.

Quickly into the pan
The mushrooms should be washed shortly before cooking, and not kept wet for long as they become slimy. It is also advisable to wash only whole mushrooms. One researcher said that if you notice they are steaming in the pan instead of searing, it is more likely due to having too many in the pan than because they have been washed.

So I have fallen from a belief again. From now on, when I want to prepare special muddy specimens, I will undoubtedly give them a shower first.