BEATLES GOOD FOR MUSHROOMS Mushrooms, it is said, are famously temperamental. To fruit they require just the right temperature (15C) a precise humidity (87%) and the correct growing medium. And if that doesn't work, you can always try giving them a blast of rock music.
"Apparently The White Album, by The Beatles, works best," smiles Beddgelert grower Cynan Jones, 51. He's only half joking. He once met a fungi grower in the US who swore by Lennon and McCartney. And there is a pseudo-scientific rationale for the claim too: mushrooms often need to be shocked from their slumbers, whether by falling temperatures or other means.
"A few years ago, here on the farm, a rotten tree fell in a storm and struck a rock," he said. "It produced the most fantastic crop of oyster mushrooms I've ever seen. "In Japan there is a ceremony in which people burn incense and parade into woodlands, where they hit trees with large hammers. Mushrooms seem to respond to the shock."
Mr Jones, of Nantmor, has become an authority on all things mycelium since launching his own growing business just over two years ago. He grows shiitake, valued for its culinary and medicinal properties. They are the world's most widely produced fungi after button mushrooms.
Cynan's now looking to expand and is in talks with the National Trust to use its kitchen facilities at Craflyn for pickling his mushrooms.
A qualified biochemist who runs 50 ewes on the family farm, Cynan sold a 20-year-old financial planning company to concentrate on mushroom production. Menterra, Gwynedd Council's EU-funded farm diversification programme, provided two disused shipping containers - one for incubation, the other for fruiting. These were insulated and wired to provide temperature/humidity-controlled environments.
The GBP2.6m Menterra project also seed-funded two other shiitake growers in the area - Chwilog farmer and hay merchant Gwilym Jones, and Aberdaron farmer John Williams. Gwynedd's "shiitake triangle" now provides a cluster of mushroom expertise.
Each cycle takes around 10 weeks. Production is up to 60 blocks-a-week and each block produces 200-400g depending on spore condition. Weekly production is therefore 12-24kg-per-week. Wholesale prices are around GBP12/kg and shiitake retails for around GBP18-20/kg.
Morrisons offered to take 100kg-a-week of Cynan's mushrooms but the order was too big and the price too low. Instead he sells direct to hotels, restaurants and a few local shops, such as Rhug at Corwen.
Gwynedd Council has produced a booklet to help farmers looking to grow exotic mushrooms. By Andrew Forgrave, Source: www.dailypost.co.uk
