Support local food - Maesyffin Mushrooms
Did you know, Maesiffyn Mushrooms grow their mushrooms organically, using locally sourced materials wherever possible?
Maesyffin Mushrooms are UK growers of Shitake Mushrooms. Growing in the woods of West Wales since 2003, the team at Maesyffin Mushrooms have won numerous awards and supply local restaurants, hotels and eateries.
Taking sustainability to a new high, the mushrooms are organic, certified by the UK Soil Association using locally sourced materials wherever possible. The spawn is grown on locally grown organic grains and the mushrooms on wood chip that has been made from local hardwood brash. Sawdust is provided by a local wood crafting workshop and electricity is supplied by 100% green energy supplier, Octopus Energy. There are no plastic boxes used here, all mushrooms are packaged accordingly in recyclable materials and recycled packing materials are used for posting out orders.
Culinary Uses
Shiitake is very popular in China and Japan, where the majority of the world’s shiitake are grown and consumed. It is a leading source of the Umami (or “deliciousness”) Taste, especially when dried. Shiitake works well with red meats in particular, but also chicken and other meats, vegetables and eggs. The stems should be kept as they are full of goodness and flavour and can be used for a highly nutritious soup stock or used in pâtés or mushroom roasts.
Shiitake can be added to casseroles, quiches, bread and other baked items, as well as used in traditional and modern Asian recipes. Oh, and they are great fried slowly and served on toast. And then there’s shiitake ‘bacon’ … Vegetarian umami heaven!
What does UK grown really mean?
You may have seen this on fresh mushrooms – but what does it mean? That the mushrooms are grown in the UK? Well, yes. But did you know that the mushrooms could have been grown on substrates imported from another country – most likely China? The fruiting blocks are made on an industrial scale – using Chinese materials & Chinese labour – and then transported in shipping containers to the UK, where they are unloaded, put into growing rooms and fruited to produce mushrooms.UK grown, certainly, but UK produced???
