IT STARTS IN A LABORATORY...
The life of a cultivated mushroom requires sterile conditions, so the entire growing process begins in a laboratory. The spores, or natural seeds of the mushroom, are so tiny that a person cannot handle them. Instead, lab personnel inoculate sterile cereal grains with the spores and incubate them until they develop into a viable product. These grains become “spawn,” which can then be sown like a seed.
At the farm, the grower carefully prepares the basic growing medium for mushroom production, which is called substrate – a key ingredient in mushroom production. Two types of starting material are generally used for mushroom substrate: synthetic compost consisting of wheat or rye straw, hay, crushed corn cobs, cottonseed meal, cocoa shells, and gypsum, or manure-based compost made from stable bedding from horse stables or poultry litter.
PREPARATION PROCESS
This process converts plant and animal products into a mixture of decayed organic matter that is necessary for growing mushrooms. The process is technical and scientific but mushroom substrate prepared on the farm has only one use – to grow mushrooms. Just as soil is the growing medium for field crop production, substrate is the growing mix for mushroom production.
For all crops, including mushrooms, the right ingredients must be blended to create a quality product.Without this special substrate, mushrooms will not grow.
INSIDE THE MUSHROOM HOUSE
In the growing house, the pasteurized substrate is placed in stacked, wooden trays or beds, and the spawn is mixed in and a top layer (usually of peat moss) is applied. From this point, it takes about three weeks to produce the first mushrooms for harvest. Throughout the growing period, temperature and humidity are carefully controlled.
Mushrooms mature at varying times, so picking by hand is continuous for two to three weeks. Every mushroom is harvested by hand.
The tray or bed is then completely emptied and the entire growing area is pasteurized with steam before a new crop is started.
PACKING AND DISTRIBUTION
PACKING AND DISTRIBUTIONImmediately after harvest, mushrooms are sent to a packinghouse to be sorted, weighed, packed, and shipped.
Specialty Mushrooms
Specialty mushrooms like Shiitake, Oyster, Maiitake and others are grown a bit differently than the common white and brown button mushrooms. In general, these mushrooms are grown on logs or in bags The process of inoculating logs requires mycelium (spawn) to be placed inside the growing medium, whether natural or synthetic and then climate-controlled (temperature, humidity, light, and air). The ideal growing conditions for mushrooms are around 70 degrees Fahrenheit and greater than 90% humidity. Natural logs work well and oaks and maples serve as the best hosts. For natural logs, it is best if the log is newly cut so that it hasn’t dried out. Synthetic logs are just bagged mixes of sawdust, millet, rye, and water to keep feeding the mycelium.
Hippocrates first mentioned mushrooms when he wrote about their medicinal value in 400 B.C. The first mention of mushroom cultivation, distinct from a chance appearance in the field, was in l652. Unfortunately, they were described as excellent for “making into compresses for ripening boils” but not as good to eat. In l707, a French botanist wrote about mushrooms as “originating from a horse.” He went on further to note, “Spores upon germination developed into a fluff, this fluff, planted into horse manure and covered with soil, would grow mushrooms.” The first record of year-round commercial production was in l780 when a French gardener began to cultivate mushrooms in the underground quarries near Paris. After the Civil War, gardeners introduced mushroom growing to North America by using dark areas underneath greenhouse benches to grow mushrooms.
LEARN THE BASIC PROCEDURES FOR GROWINGAGARICUSMUSHROOMS
Shiitake mushrooms have been enjoyed for centuries in Asia because of their health-promoting properties. Now consumers in Western countries are enjoying Shiitakes because of their unique culinary characteristics. Shiitake mushrooms can be found on supermarket shelves nationwide and are an excellent source of selenium, a very good source of iron, and are good sources of vitamin C, protein, and dietary fiber.
