Winter mushrooms have become a popular traditional foodstuff with high nutritive value. Winter mushrooms (Flammulina vehitipes) were subjected to thermal treatments to 70, 80, 90 and 100 degrees C for 1, 2, 3, 5 and 10 min. Control and treated samples were analyzed for changes in texture and microstructure. Kinetic parameters for textural changes followed the Arrhenius model. SEM showed that heating resulted in the extraction of soluble polysaccharides from winter mushrooms. The degree of heating damage can be determined according to hyphae softening and surface and interior pilei collapse. These results may be used as a reference for the winter mushrooms industry and provide kinetic data for future research to improve the quality of thermally processed winter mushrooms. (c) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.