UNDERHILL MUSHROOM COMPANY

Viola, Idaho

By Terri Schmidt, Co-op volunteer writer

James Hill started Underhill Mushroom Company outside of Viola about a year ago. He grows many kinds of mushrooms for Moscow Food Co-op customers, friends, and family. His mushrooms include Lion’s Mane, Oyster, King Oyster, Blues, Black Pearl Oyster – all of which do well throughout the winter. He is planning to grow delicate Golden and Pink mushrooms in this summer. Mushrooms do not transport well, so we are lucky to have a local mushroom company.

James says, “I’m a nerd. I love the combination of lab work and agriculture.  Mushroom work rewards precision in getting to a successful crop. I enjoy the challenge.” He purchased a white lab coat this year, and now happily looks the part.

James gave me an interesting educational tour of their mushroom operation. There are many steps involved. First they purchase pellets of materials like oak wood and soybean hulls. The pellets are sterilized in a huge pressure cooker to make substrate. Then wheat kernels are inoculated with a liquid culture of mushroom mycelium cells to create spawn. James separates the spawn into sixteen bags of substrate in front of a laminator flow hood, which keeps the material sterile. If even one spore of mold gets into the substrate it can ruin the whole bag. The bags are massaged to mix the grain and substrate and sealed. Over several days the block mixture changes from brown to white as the cells colonize. After the substrate fully colonizes, the blocks are placed in the grow room and exposed to oxygen and light. After another week or two the mushrooms on the blocks are harvested.

Mushrooms need very particular conditions. The grow room is set up to provide support. Mushrooms want super oxygenated air and high humidity (except for King Oysters which like more carbon dioxide.) James utilizes a high speed fan to increase oxygen and a humidifier that keeps the room at 80-90% humidity. Mushrooms don’t photosynthesize, but they need light to show them which way to grow, so the room also has grow light strips that are on eight hours a day.

Mushroom’s health benefits include adding important trace minerals your diet. Research in Japan showed Lion’s Mane may protect against dementia. Researchers at Penn State found that people who incorporated any variety of mushrooms into their daily diets had a lower risk of cancer, stating, “Mushrooms are the highest dietary source of ergothioneine, which is a unique and potent antioxidant and cellular protector.” Click here to read more.

James and his wife Ruth came to Moscow to attend college and met working at the same coffee shop.  James is a computer programmer and Ruth home-schools their five children – Ester, Hannah, Peter, Mark, and Becca Joy. The youngest three children are very involved in the mushroom business – helping with the sterilization, massaging bags, harvesting mushrooms, and cleaning the grow room.

The family all love eating mushrooms. One favorite recipe is sautéing the mushrooms with soy sauce, butter, and garlic – increasing the umami flavor. Another favorite is searing mushrooms with garlic, chicken broth, white wine, and cream and serving them on homemade pasta. James said Lion’s Mane mushrooms have a flavor similar to crab and make a tasty vegan crab cake or a great addition to actual crab cakes.

A big thank you to the Hill family for providing us with healthy and delicious mushrooms.