Guest guest Posted September 21, 2010 Report Share Posted September 21, 2010 This company is growing mushrooms that are cultivated on wood. This would include mushrooms such as shiitake, maitake, enoki, oyster, and a few others, but not agaricus bisporus (button, crimini, and Portobello mushrooms are all from this species), which are grown on (sterilized) manure. In my experience, the substrate for mushrooms grown on wood is generally made from certain types of hardwood sawdust, rice hulls, and rice bran. Once all this is mixed up, bagged, and sterilized, the substrate is inoculated with the mushroom mycelium, which then colonizes the sawdust over several months. At this point, the substrate is a solid block held together by the mycelium; it is removed from the bag and placed in the proper environment for fruiting. The mushrooms will grow out of the block. The rice bran is used as a nutrient for the mycelium, to jump start the growth; I expect it is mostly absorbed by the mushrooms. I haven’t heard of using wheat bran for this purpose before, and I don’t know if this company is unusual in its use of wheat bran or if the industry in general has recently changed. I will check further on this. Either way, the question is if we need to worry about what is in the substrate that grows our mushrooms. I can think of two ways this might affect the mushrooms. Through direct absorption by the mycelium would be one way. I think this would be unlikely to be a problem, because the mycelium is using the bran as the same way a plant uses fertilizer, and I would expect that the process changes the proteins sufficiently to be unrecognizable as wheat protein. That said, I don’t know enough about the process to give a definitive answer; again, I will look into this further. The other way would be if the mushroom came into contact with the substrate while emerging from the block. Again, I put this into the possible but unlikely category. The first reason would be because the bran would be absorbed early on, being, as I said, the fertilizer. Second, the mushroom grows out of the block, starting as a small bud, then growing out of it. It really doesn’t have much contact with the actual substrate itself except at the base, which is left behind when the mushroom is cut off the block at harvest time. In summary, button mushrooms are not a problem because they grow on manure. Other mushrooms seem unlikely to be a problem, but I will do a bit more research on some of the finer points to see what I can find out. Pam From: [mailto: ] On Behalf Of Dana Hoppe Sent: Monday, September 20, 2010 8:28 PM Celiac Bay Area; ROCK Subject: [ ] Farmed Mushrooms Hi, I just finished watching a show on the cooking channel. They featured a mushroom company from Sebastopol, CA that farms mushrooms in pots. On the show they mentioned that they " feed " the mushrooms with a mixture of wood shavings and wheat germ. I have listed the link for the company below. I love mushrooms. Do I now need to worry about getting gluten from fresh mushrooms? Should I contact the company and if I do, would they even know if there is gluten in the mushrooms? Any suggestions would be appreciated. http://www.gourmetmushroomsinc.com/default.aspx Thanks, Dana Hoppe, Owner ,_._,___ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted September 21, 2010 Report Share Posted September 21, 2010 Pam, Thank you for the detailed response. You have made me feel better. Please let me know if you find more information. Best, Dana Hoppe, Owner Gluten Free Gourmet, LLC 408-887-6141 www.gluten-free-gourmet.com http://www.facebook.com/pages/Saratoga-CA/Gluten-Free-Gourmet-LLC/238175996382?ref=mf http://blog.gluten-free-gourmet.com/ From: Pam Newbury <pknewbury@...> Sent: Mon, September 20, 2010 11:16:42 PMSubject: [ ] Farmed Mushrooms This company is growing mushrooms that are cultivated on wood. This would include mushrooms such as shiitake, maitake, enoki, oyster, and a few others, but not agaricus bisporus (button, crimini, and Portobello mushrooms are all from this species), which are grown on (sterilized) manure. In my experience, the substrate for mushrooms grown on wood is generally made from certain types of hardwood sawdust, rice hulls, and rice bran. Once all this is mixed up, bagged, and sterilized, the substrate is inoculated with the mushroom mycelium, which then colonizes the sawdust over several months. At this point, the substrate is a solid block held together by the mycelium; it is removed from the bag and placed in the proper environment for fruiting. The mushrooms will grow out of the block. The rice bran is used as a nutrient for the mycelium, to jump start the growth; I expect it is mostly absorbed by the mushrooms. I haven’t heard of using wheat bran for this purpose before, and I don’t know if this company is unusual in its use of wheat bran or if the industry in general has recently changed. I will check further on this. Either way, the question is if we need to worry about what is in the substrate that grows our mushrooms. I can think of two ways this might affect the mushrooms. Through direct absorption by the mycelium would be one way. I think this would be unlikely to be a problem, because the mycelium is using the bran as the same way a plant uses fertilizer, and I would expect that the process changes the proteins sufficiently to be unrecognizable as wheat protein. That said, I don’t know enough about the process to give a definitive answer; again, I will look into this further. The other way would be if the mushroom came into contact with the substrate while emerging from the block. Again, I put this into the possible but unlikely category. The first reason would be because the bran would be absorbed early on, being, as I said, the fertilizer. Second, the mushroom grows out of the block, starting as a small bud, then growing out of it. It really doesn’t have much contact with the actual substrate itself except at the base, which is left behind when the mushroom is cut off the block at harvest time. In summary, button mushrooms are not a problem because they grow on manure. Other mushrooms seem unlikely to be a problem, but I will do a bit more research on some of the finer points to see what I can find out. Pam From: [mailto: ] On Behalf Of Dana HoppeSent: Monday, September 20, 2010 8:28 PMCeliac Bay Area; ROCKSubject: [ ] Farmed Mushrooms Hi, I just finished watching a show on the cooking channel. They featured a mushroom company from Sebastopol, CA that farms mushrooms in pots. On the show they mentioned that they "feed" the mushrooms with a mixture of wood shavings and wheat germ. I have listed the link for the company below. I love mushrooms. Do I now need to worry about getting gluten from fresh mushrooms? Should I contact the company and if I do, would they even know if there is gluten in the mushrooms? Any suggestions would be appreciated. http://www.gourmetmushroomsinc.com/default.aspx Thanks, Dana Hoppe, Owner ,_._,___ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted September 21, 2010 Report Share Posted September 21, 2010 Wow. What an AMAZINGLY detailed and thorough response. WAY cool! Thank you, Pam! From: [mailto: ] On Behalf Of Dana Hoppe Sent: Tuesday, September 21, 2010 9:02 AM Subject: Re: [ ] Farmed Mushrooms Pam, Thank you for the detailed response. You have made me feel better. Please let me know if you find more information. Best, Dana Hoppe, Owner Gluten Free Gourmet, LLC 408-887-6141 www.gluten-free-gourmet.com http://www.facebook.com/pages/Saratoga-CA/Gluten-Free-Gourmet-LLC/238175996382?ref=mf http://blog.gluten-free-gourmet.com/ From: Pam Newbury <pknewbury@...> Sent: Mon, September 20, 2010 11:16:42 PM Subject: [ ] Farmed Mushrooms This company is growing mushrooms that are cultivated on wood. This would include mushrooms such as shiitake, maitake, enoki, oyster, and a few others, but not agaricus bisporus (button, crimini, and Portobello mushrooms are all from this species), which are grown on (sterilized) manure. In my experience, the substrate for mushrooms grown on wood is generally made from certain types of hardwood sawdust, rice hulls, and rice bran. Once all this is mixed up, bagged, and sterilized, the substrate is inoculated with the mushroom mycelium, which then colonizes the sawdust over several months. At this point, the substrate is a solid block held together by the mycelium; it is removed from the bag and placed in the proper environment for fruiting. The mushrooms will grow out of the block. The rice bran is used as a nutrient for the mycelium, to jump start the growth; I expect it is mostly absorbed by the mushrooms. I haven’t heard of using wheat bran for this purpose before, and I don’t know if this company is unusual in its use of wheat bran or if the industry in general has recently changed. I will check further on this. Either way, the question is if we need to worry about what is in the substrate that grows our mushrooms. I can think of two ways this might affect the mushrooms. Through direct absorption by the mycelium would be one way. I think this would be unlikely to be a problem, because the mycelium is using the bran as the same way a plant uses fertilizer, and I would expect that the process changes the proteins sufficiently to be unrecognizable as wheat protein. That said, I don’t know enough about the process to give a definitive answer; again, I will look into this further. The other way would be if the mushroom came into contact with the substrate while emerging from the block. Again, I put this into the possible but unlikely category. The first reason would be because the bran would be absorbed early on, being, as I said, the fertilizer. Second, the mushroom grows out of the block, starting as a small bud, then growing out of it. It really doesn’t have much contact with the actual substrate itself except at the base, which is left behind when the mushroom is cut off the block at harvest time. In summary, button mushrooms are not a problem because they grow on manure. Other mushrooms seem unlikely to be a problem, but I will do a bit more research on some of the finer points to see what I can find out. Pam From: [mailto: ] On Behalf Of Dana Hoppe Sent: Monday, September 20, 2010 8:28 PM Celiac Bay Area; ROCK Subject: [ ] Farmed Mushrooms Hi, I just finished watching a show on the cooking channel. They featured a mushroom company from Sebastopol, CA that farms mushrooms in pots. On the show they mentioned that they " feed " the mushrooms with a mixture of wood shavings and wheat germ. I have listed the link for the company below. I love mushrooms. Do I now need to worry about getting gluten from fresh mushrooms? Should I contact the company and if I do, would they even know if there is gluten in the mushrooms? Any suggestions would be appreciated. http://www.gourmetmushroomsinc.com/default.aspx Thanks, Dana Hoppe, Owner ,_._,___ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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