FUNGI

Fungi Foray

Becky Searle shares her tips on cultivating mushrooms at home – and explains why they deserve a place in every veg grower’s toolkit

We are all well-acquainted with the joys of growing our own food, from fresh, crispy carrots to sun-ripened tomatoes fresh from the vine. But nowadays, another type of food is becoming increasingly popular to grow because it is easy to cultivate, quick, and not always great in supermarkets. I am, of course, talking about mushrooms.

Foraging for mushrooms has been part of many cultures since the beginning of time, with the knowledge of mushroom identification being passed down through the generations.

In Slavic countries such as Ukraine, they hold significant cultural importance, with families and friends venturing into the woods to harvest mushrooms together and sharing their finds. Here in the UK, we are much less receptive to the idea of foraging for food. I still come up against resistance when I suggest to some of my friends that they try my carefully cultivated allotment food, much less something that sprang up from a pile of dead leaves on the forest floor.