Ok so you know I’m big on provenance. Understanding and appreciating the origin of our food. So any chance I get to do a farm or factory tour, I’m there with hair net on, boots and all. Meeting the Mushroom Man last week, has been one of the true foodie highlights of my year. And you can come along and learn now too.
Meet Jim. The Mushroom Man. His official title is Spawn Technologist. No joke. But more about that soon. The first myth Jim wants to bust is that mushrooms don’t grow on *ahem* poo. No siree. Just good old compost made from off cuts of wheat stalks from around Victoria.
So let’s start at the beginning. There are only 60 major mushroom growers in Australia and this Costa farm on the Northern outskirts of Melbourne supplies 250 tonnes a week. The Costa group of farms supplies over 45% of the Australian mushroom market. You may think there is some top secret chemical boosters at play? Nope. Just a natural process carefully honed with science.
First, single spore isolates (the microscopic baby fungi seeds if you like) are mixed in an autoclave with rye, corn, gypsum and silica to sterilise and create a pure culture with a selective substrate (a ready food supply best suited to these babies). And then they rest at controlled temperatures and grow. This process allows high yield of Swiss brown or white Agaricus and none of the “lose your lunch bunch” as Jim so poetically describes poisonous fungi species the untrained eye picks up in the wild.
Believe me Jim knows his stuff. From foraging to farm to fork. A Texan with a background as a chef and degree in chemical engineering he honed his skills in California at Mycopia – experts in gourmet and nutraceutical mushrooms. Follow him on twitter @longtalltex. We chatted everything from fire chasing morels to pearl oysters that I recently grew with a home kit thanks to Fungi Culture. I hope to go on a foraging field trip with Jim, real soon. From the detailed science to hands-on culinary tips, I’m weak at the knees. And could listen to that man talk mushies all day.
Once the spawn is ready, it’s mixed with the steaming compost and left in wooden crates in the dark for 2 weeks. Any signs of foreigner fungi the whole batch is ditched. No sprays or other nasties going on here. And then the crates are moved into separate sheds with filtered light for cap and pigment development. Jim chatting to Alice (above) from Keep Left who invited me on the tour, would often just pause and stare with admiration at his babies. And after 7 days, it’s lights on and action time for buttons and a little more wait for cups and then flats.
I’ve never met such a happy bunch of pickers. With gloved hands and pocket knifes, they swiftly pick and pack your mushrooms.
And deliver them to your local Woolworths supermarket within 24hours. If you buy them loose, Jim recommends a clean wipe or wash is needed as many shoppers hands have touched them before you brown bag it.
But washing adds water and makes mushrooms sweat, rubbery during cooking and dilutes those perfect umami flavours. If you buy them pre-packed you know they are clean and good to go. Just remove the plastic wrap when you pop them in your crisper. Look there’s Jim on-pack nestled in my strawberry patch!
I’m sure you know that mushrooms are healthy. But it’s the news around breast cancer that has caused a buzz recently – women who regularly eat mushrooms have about half the risk of breast cancer. I love hearing Glenn Cardwell APD, dietitian spokesperson for Mushroom Growers and fungi fanatic talk about the emerging science on satiety and more. You may also like to read about the recent Mushroom and Health Summit in Washington and the idea of blending mushies into dishes. I’m off to explore the recipes on the Power of Mushrooms and cook up a new idea of dinner.
Do you love mushies? Have you got a question for Jim?
