How do you grow mushrooms?

How do you grow mushrooms? As you can imagine, this is one of the most popular questions asked when people find out you work in the mushroom industry. This often leads to many less obvious and interesting questions. We have tried to answer most of these questions in the FAQs on our website.

To help answer this question, the Mushroom Council has produced a short video (13:11) describing the basics of mushroom cultivation. We permission from the Mushroom Council, we have converted this video to more web-friendly versions and have made it available for your viewing pleasure. You can view "Fresh Mushroom Cultivation - A Virtual Farm Tour" by clicking here. You can also view this video below. (Media Player) This video is also available in Quicktime Player or Real Player formats.



Although, this "virtual tour" is not of our facility, many of the operations and processes are the same. We hope you enjoy this summary on the cultivation of fresh mushrooms and as always it will inspire you to ...eat more mushrooms!

My New Favorite Mushroom Recipe

Have you had a great mushroom dish lately? Last week I had a very delicious meal. In fact with each bite it moved up my rankings, of favorite mushrooms dishes, to number one. I can taste it just thinking about it. My taste buds were well pleased and I was suprised at how much I enjoyed it. Here is the recipe. You can also find it on our website at LONG PASTA & MUSHROOMS.

LONG PASTA & MUSHROOMS

1 Pound linguine or spaghetti noodles
coarse salt and ground pepper
2 Tablespoons olive oil
2 Pounds fresh Mountainview Mushrooms
(White, Crimini, Shiitake, Oyster,
Portabello or any combination
thereof)
cleaned and sliced 1/2" thick.
6 Garlic cloves thinly sliced
1 Cup grated Parmesan Cheese
1/4 Cup grated Parmesan cheese for serving
time

Cook the pasta in a large pot of boiling salted water until al
dente. Reserve 1 cup of cooking water: drain pasta, and return to the pot.

While the pasta is cooking, heat olive oil in a large skillet over a
medium-high heat. Add mushrooms and garlic: season with salt and pepper. Cover
the skillet (it should be quite full); cook, tossing occasionally, until the
mushrooms have softened and released their liquid, 7 to 10 minutes.

Uncover the skillet and reduce the heat to medium; cook, tossing
occasionally until the mushrooms are tender and slightly browned, 10 to 12
minutes.

Add the mushroom mixture and Parmasen cheese to the pasta then
toss to combine. Add as much reserved pasta water as necessary to create a light
sauce.

Serve immediately topped with more Parmesan Cheese.

A few notes on how I prepared this meal. I used crimini buttons, so I did not slice them as recommended. I also added the parmesan to the skillet after the mushroom mixture was done, but before I mixed it with the pasta, this was a mistake. The parmesan just melted and clumped together in a big ball. Following the instructions on this point is advisable. Other than that, I followed the recipe closely and ended with a very enjoyable meal.

We'd love to hear from you and learn about your favorite mushroom dishes. You can share them with everyone who reads this blog, by adding them in the comments section. We look forward to hearing from you. And I hope this recipe motivates you to eat more mushrooms!

You can find more great recipes on our website by clicking here.