MAGICAL MUSHROOMS MUSHROOMS

A Deeper Dive into the Process of Cultivating Our Favorite Fungi

// by Lauren Kramer

Next time you’re cradling a mushroom in the palm of your hand, stop for a moment to consider how these versatile fungi make their way to your kitchen.

Gale Ferranto, president of Buona Foods, a third-generation familyowned mushroom farm in Landenberg, Pennsylvania, that produces four million pounds of mushrooms per year, explains that mushrooms are grown indoors in large, dark, temperature-controlled warehouses. Mushrooms begin their lives as spawn placed in a substrate, a grower’s in-house combination of hay, straw, corncobs and horse and poultry manure. A peat moss casing is spread over mushroom beds to contain the moisture, and mushroom pins push through the casing in a growth cycle that lasts between 16 and 35 days. The pins are baby mushrooms as they start to emerge from the substrate during the fruiting stage. These pins expand and grow larger through the button stage, ultimately forming a mushroom.

“The growing process is intrinsically environmentally friendly,” Ferranto says, “in that the substrate mix comes from farmers of hay, straw, corn, horses and chicken, and when its use for mushrooms has expired, it is recycled in bagging for topsoil, used as fertilizer and also in reclamation projects for mines and roadways.”

For mushroom farmers, the growing challenges are numerous. Mushrooms are harvested by hand before moving to the processing facility, where they are graded, vacuum cooled, weighed and packaged. They are shipped to customers on refrigerated trucks and trailers and are highly perishable, with an average shelf life of just seven to nine days.

Ferranto notes that it can take months for harvesters to gain the skill and experience to harvest by size without damaging the root of the mushroom. And it’s essential that the root not be damaged because mushrooms have up to four flushes after their first harvest. Root damage can have a large impact on volume and revenue.

The capital investment for infrastructure required for mushroom farming is intense, and the availability and quality of the raw materials is crucial to success. Add pest control and other uncertainty — such as the fluctuating demand created by restaurant closures during COVID-19 — and you get a miniscule glimpse of the business and environmental challenges of farming mushrooms.

Buona Foods’ top sellers are the white and brown mushroom varieties, though Ferranto notes that exotics like shiitakes, gray and yellow oysters, maitake and lion’s mane mushrooms have grown in popularity over the last decade thanks to the work of chefs and culinary influencers.

“Diners are starting to discover the flavors and textures of different mushrooms,” she says. “Mushrooms fit into so many nutrition plans and have the versatility to be used as substitutes for animal protein — for example, in a burger — or as additions to animal protein.”

Buona Foods’ portfolio includes fresh and dried mushrooms, the latter containing a more concentrated flavor once they are rehydrated, as well as a longer shelf life. “With dried mushrooms, the flavor is deeper and more complex in general, which makes them a great addition to stocks and sauces, where they add flavor and texture,” Ferranto says. Demand is especially strong for dried porcinis and dried morels in the late fall, as the holidays approach.

So, cradle that mushroom with respect. Consider its journey from spawn to harvest, and remember that fiercely flavorful fungi can transform the texture and flavor of your meal.