Growth industry
Specialty mushrooms on the rise
“We still handpick all of our mushrooms,” said Linda Phillips Steller, leading an impromptu tour of the family business, Phillips Mushroom Farms in Kennett Square. “We grow shiitake mushrooms in those houses down there.”
It’s National Mushroom Month, and growers have plenty to celebrate. Exotics like shiitake, enoki and oyster are trending with U.S. sales topping $96 million last year, up 4-percent.
“I think the consumers are learning more,” explained Daniel Rahn, project manager at the American Mushroom Institute. “They’re taking an interest in varieties that in the past were not as popular, but they’re showing up more on store shelves and in restaurants.” Nutrition’s a big draw. “People are watching their diet. Mushrooms are healthy. No doubt about it,” said Jim Angelucci, Phillips’ general manager. “Oyster mushrooms have some of the same compounds as the statins that we take.”
“A lot of people like them for their medicinal value,” agreed Joe Evans of Oley Valley Mushroom Farm. “I have a lot of people asking me about lion’s mane (aka pom pom) mushrooms. Supposedly, they’re good for MS and lupus.”
Plus, “it’s a tasty mushroom,” he said. “If you sauté them in butter, they taste like lobster.”
Another favorite: maitake, dubbed hen-of-the-woods for its ruffled appearance.
“I would say it’s just pure umami. It’s just got a very rich, wonderful flavor,” described Dorene Pasekoff of Hill Creek Farm in Pottstown, who discovered wild ones on her property. “They do help the farm’s bottom line.”
Back at Phillips, the tour continued in the mushroom museum, where visitors enter a climate-controlled room, featuring maitake and more.
“We’ve seen a rise in maitake with the chefs,” said Jill Phillips Gray, Steller’s sister. “Shiitake’s probably the most popular of the specialty mushrooms with the consumer.”
Make your own shiitake “bacon” or shiitake mushroom spread.
“The uses of mushrooms are limited only by your imagination,” Angelucci added. “You can get them every day, and you can use them in every way.”