About Chocolate truffles (candy). PORTOBELLO The food experts generally agree on three points when it comes to the history of portabellas: • This meaty mushroom is an American invention with Italian roots (spores, actually) made popular by clever marketing in the late 1980s/early 1990s. Both cremini and portobello mushrooms are first mentioned in the New York Times during the mid 1980s. • There are several theories regarding the name. Although these mushrooms are also currenty enjoyed in fine dining establishments of Central/South America, there is no apparent connection between the town of Portobelo (Panama) the origination of the name or item. • There is no definative spelling of this fungus. According to Google (not a scientific, but a popular survey), Portobello is preferred (169,000), followed by portabella (33,100) and portobella (3, 510). “By the late 1800s…Italian growers also cultivated the common mushroom but prefering the brown-capped variety, which are often called cremin