Humungus Fungus

HUMUNGUS FUNGUS was established with the aim of developing profitable systems for growing organic mushrooms on a sustainable, low-impact basis.

The company has been responsible for pioneering mushroom-growing systems based around shipping containers and other small portable buildings, which make it possible to grow mushrooms in locations where food production has otherwise been deemed difficult or even impossible. The dream of urban food production starts here . . . .

Since 1998, the company has developed and tested systems for growing more than 10 species of gourmet mushroom to organic standards, and in that time it has helped several people develop their own mushroom growing enterprises in other parts of the UK.

The Average UK Resident will sample the culinary delights of two species of edible mushroom during their life!

Our European neighbours will sample four, and the average Japanese resident will enjoy the delights of nine species during his/her lifetime.

To most UK consumers, a mushroom is small, white, squeaky-clean, flavourless and packed conveniently in a plastic box – ready to be fried to death!

In the UK, unlike most other countries in Europe, the majority of the population seem to hold no cultural or historical links with mushrooms. From an early age we are told that mushrooms (read Toadstools!) are poisonous and that they grow in dark and forbidding forests.

However, despite the somewhat questionable connection with a warty amphibian, mushrooms (edible, medicinal, and even hallucinogenic) are currently receiving unprecedented media coverage in the UK, and as you would expect, the bandwagon is fast becoming overloaded!

If you are serious about eating the freshest mushrooms available, grown in the UK (possibly close-by) to internationally-recognised organic standards, then look no further, and seek out the Humungus Fungus brand.

2008/09 True Taste
Healthy Options winner for
Fresh Organic Shiitake

Maesyffin Mushrooms
have been growing their award-winning organic Shiitake mushrooms in rural West Wales since 2003. The mushrooms grow on fruiting blocks made mainly from locally-sourced oak and other woods and are cultivated in a system developed by Humungus Fungus. The entire process is certified as organic by the UK Soil Association.

www.maesymush.co.uk

Fresh mushrooms are sold through Local Retailers, Farmers' Markets and Organic Box Schemes.

The True Taste judges said they were excellent quality" and had "a good shiitake taste", as well as "Woody - good flavours - great raw and cooked".

Maesyffin Mushrooms also produce & sell Organic Shiitake Mushroom Pate, dried shiitake mushrooms and shiitake fruiting blocks.

MYCOLOGICAL LANDSCAPING
La vallée de champignons du Manoir aux Quat' Saisons

The best chefs in the world demand the best ingredients, and the gardens at Le Manoir stand-alone when it comes to the production of fresh mushrooms.

In 2005, staff from Humungus Fungus were invited to Le Manoir to discuss the establishment of a mushroom growing system (La vallée de champignons du Manoir aux Quat' Saisons) based on a purpose built grow room and an area of garden from which fresh mushrooms would be grown on hardwood logs.

During the past two years systems have been trialled to enable the garden staff to produce King Oyster and Hericium on fruiting blocks from the grow room, and several species grown from hardwood logs and chip.

"The Chinese and Japanese are laughing at us. Whilst the British consumer is using huge tonnage of button mushrooms with traces of carcinogenic chemicals, the Chinese and Japanese have through history developed varieties which help to reduce the risk of cancer".
Raymond Blanc

GROWING MUSHROOMS ON HARDWOOD LOGS

Shiitake fruiting on log

Trying to farm logs, like many other forms of farming, could be an economic disaster in the making! However, if you set out with the view that Small is Beautiful then growing mushrooms can be culturally Shiitake fruiting on logs

rewarding, socially enlightening and economically viable.

It does not offer a stand-alone solution to the struggling farmer, and we would suggest that most people in the UK would find it difficult to manage more than 500 single-species fruiting logs at any one time. But as a small component of an overall farm diversification plan we think it is worth the investment.

This is not "fast food". Success will come with patience, appreciation, understanding and observation over many years. For our part, we can say that our spawn has been tested in UK conditions for more than five years.

Over the years we have tested and grown 8 species of edible mushrooms on hardwood logs, and while some are more difficult to grow than others, shiitake and nameko seem to do best in the UK climate.

The inclusion of a system that produces mushrooms on logs presents many interesting opportunities for your mushroom growing business.

Small logs can sell well at local Farmers’ markets during the winter months when they are given as novel Xmas presents.

If you have space, then we have always felt that a “pick-your-own” system could work well, allowing people to pick fresh mushrooms for themselves from your log growing system.

GROWING MUSHROOMS ON SAWDUST & WOODCHIP
	The majority of our gourmet mushrooms are grown on wood-based mediums (no animal waste here!). The process of selection and blending our substrate is perhaps one of the most crucial areas of our business, and after 8 years of mixing various types of wood-waste we are still to achieve absolute perfection! No two mushrooms will grow as well on the same substrate, and all require a different a strategy for fruiting. Growing gourmet mushrooms on wood-based substrates requires patience and a deep respect and understanding of conditions that occur naturally, which trigger mushroom production. What you get to eat is merely the fruit of a potentially perpetual life-form, which, in its natural state, remains hidden under bark or earth. Great care is given to providing the right environmental conditions required to grow these mushrooms, and, as with the sawdust mixes, there are very few mushrooms that can be grown alongside each other in similar conditions. Once the sawdust is mixed it is sterilised in special bags and then spawn is added and allowed to colonise the sawdust. When this process is complete, which can take between 2-16 weeks depending on the species, the sawdust has formed into a solid block, which is commonly referred to as a fruiting block. This fruiting block is then transferred from the warm, stable incubation conditions into a grow room where conditions are further manipulated to produce mushrooms. This system of mushroom production relies on care, sensitivity and water – no chemicals whatsoever!