Mushroom business rooted in a family tradition
For as long as he can remember, Tavis Lynch has roamed the woods of Wisconsin hunting for mushrooms. Of the many varieties of edible mushrooms found here, he’s tried 160.
Selling his foraged mushrooms was fine until demand grew, so then he turned to cultivation and growing his own mushrooms at his farm in Cumberland. The former steelworker started with 250 shiitake logs and eight wine cap beds. Now he produces 16,000 pounds of mushrooms a year.
He shares his tips, aided by step-bystep pictures, in “Mushroom Cultivation: An Illustrated Guide to Growing Your Own Mushrooms At Home” (Quarry, $24.99). Wine cap mushrooms are his current favorites and one of his biggest sellers. They’re also the simplest to grow in Wisconsin.
Among the suppliers he mentions in the book, two are rooted in Wisconsin: Field and Forest Products in Peshtigo and the newer Superior Mushrooms in Mason.
Lynch teaches classes for Wisconsin Indianhead Technical College and the University of Wisconsin. For more on his mushrooms and where to find them, go to Tavis’s Wild and Exotic Mushrooms on Facebook.
Makings of a mycologist
It started essentially as a family tradition. My father always took us out mushroom hunting as children. Around 2009, I was finding enough edible mushrooms to supply a few local restaurants. I thought I could make a go of it commercially.
Then I couldn’t find enough mushrooms, so I had to supplement my supply . ... I decided to learn to cultivate. The demand for cultivated mushrooms became greater than for the wild stuff.
By the numbers
The first year, I was maybe producing 100 pounds. Now I’m at the 16,000pound mark.
Cultivating awareness
I am seeing a huge leap toward mushroom cultivation, especially in the Midwest. Growing up I felt like I was the only one around here doing it.
Fun with fungi
I’m teaching classes four days a week, and I’m in 19 schools now. It’s not that difficult, just a few simple rules. The cultivation, it’s like gardening, just a different skill set.
Becoming an author
I broke my left hip and had to have a total hip replacement. What a great time to write a book. Then my other hip broke. I had a bad year last year, but the timing of those injuries was awesome, as I had a lot of sitting and thinking time.
Need to know
The biggest cost is going to be the labor. This is a bit labor-intensive. The return is very delayed. The trick here is patience.
Best mushrooms for cultivation in Wisconsin
That’s going to depend on personal preference and space you have. Shiitake is obviously a favorite, a flavorful mushroom with excellent texture. We’re also seeing a trend toward vegetarian and vegan diets, and the wine cap mushroom is the easiest to grow. It is actually 30% soluble protein, so it is an excellent meat substitute with a taste like asparagus. … The oysters require a little bit more effort, a little bit more space and a little bit more TLC. A wine cap, that’s something anyone can do.
Caution to consumers
We don’t want to consume a mushroom, especially in the wild department, that will be bad for our health. There are some mushrooms that can make us very sick, from violent sweats and purging to death. In Wisconsin we only have three lethally poisonous mushrooms, the ones that will kill you. That would be a mushroom called the funeral bell, a fitting name. … Then we have the destroying angel group, a species of five that look the same so they get lumped together. Then the gyromitra, which has never killed anyone here but should still be listed as a deadly mushroom.
Preservation primer
I prefer my mushrooms dried, because you can store them anywhere in an airtight container. If you freeze them, you have to have space. A good rule for freezing is to fry them a little bit, par-fry or blanch them, which will help them keep their texture. If you freeze them raw, they have a tendency to come back crumbly. Put wax paper on a cookie sheet and then freeze them until hard. So you don’t have to chisel them apart, I like to put a single serving in a freezer bag.
Picking a favorite
To pick one is impossible. We’ve got 1,000 species of mushrooms in Wisconsin. Of those, 300 are edible, 300 are poisonous, including the deadlies, and 400 are inedible, which means unpalatable or too hard to chew.
Where to find him
Most of my sales are within 30 miles of my home, a handful of restaurants and farmers markets. We’re close to the Minnesota border, within 45 minutes. There’s a lot of cabin traffic on weekends.
I put a sign at the end of the road saying “Fresh Mushrooms.” Most of my customers know not to come when the Brewers are playing. I’m a Brewers fan.
Fork. Spoon. Life. explores the everyday relationship that local notables (within the food community and without) have with food. To suggest future personalities to profile, email nstohs@journalsentinel.com.