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nSPECIALTY MUSHROOMS CATCHING ON
Paul Lancastle, produce manager at independent store Stong’s Market of North Vancouver, BC, Canada, says the most significant change in recent years has been people branching out into different exotic mushroom varieties.
“The biggest thing for me is the exotic varieties have changed dramatically,” he says. “It used to be your basic white and brown button mushrooms and different kinds of packaging, but now it’s gone into the sliced and all the exotics like Shiitake, the Oysters, chef’s mixes, Asian mixes and the Chanterelles.”
But has this come at the expense of more traditional mushrooms?
“It kind of bounces out, to be honest,” he replies. “The exotics are a little bit more expensive, but no matter what, people are going to buy the white and brown mushrooms regardless.”
Jason Kazmirski, produce/floral merchandiser at Tukwila, WA-based North- west Grocers, which provides services for 106 independent stores in the Pacific Northwest, says mushrooms are a huge category for his stores with promotions year-round, along with wild Chanterelles promoted before the first freeze in the fall.
“For our stores, we get those Chan- terelles in, and we can get those other varieties out there that are different, like Shiitake,” he says. “Year-round, we mainly promote the 8-ounce packages, just as a grab-and-go for our group.”
Justin Reyes, sales and marketing manager of Gourmet Mushrooms in Sebas- topol, CA, clarifies his company does not grow Shiitake, but the variety acted as an entry point for specialty mushrooms in the United States and paved the way for others to find consumer appeal.
“I’d say for specialty in general, we started with a small slice of the overall mushroom pie in the United States, and we’re the fastest-growing category as far as mushrooms go,” says Reyes.
Marketing under the Mycopia brand of organic specialties, Gourmet Mushrooms provides “more unique” cultivars that retail produce clerks might not know so well.
“Maitake and some of the other ones we grow are more up-and-coming and are getting a lot of awareness, blog interest and media interest based on the health benefits,” says Reyes. “We have handling guides that talk about the different names
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PHOTO COURTESY OF GOURMET MUSHROOMS
these might be called, as well as informa- tion about shelf life and handling.”
Also known as ‘hen of the woods,’ Maitake is Reyes’ personal favorite and is seeing the fastest year-on-year sales for the group, even though it lacks the tradi- tional look most people associate with mushrooms. It has more of a floral appear- ance.
“It’s packed with umami, the flavor and texture, and it’s just delicious,” he says. “Last year we launched a program that basically revolved around larger sizes, so we rolled out an 8-ounce Maitake Fron- dosa package, and awareness is quickly growing.”
Reyes also asserts mushrooms are an indicator of higher dollar purchases, and specialty mushrooms are even more so.
“Those shoppers purchasing mush- rooms in general, and specialty mush- rooms in particular, are going to have a larger basket size typically than folks without mushrooms,” he says. “It could be because of purchasing power, but also they’re focused on healthy eating.”
Like Reyes, many suppliers are noticing a steady rise in sales of organic product.
“To satisfy the demand and service for our customer, we are aggressively adjusting squarefootagefromconventionaltoorganic mushrooms,” says Mike O’Brien, vice presi- dent of sales and marketing at Monterey Mushrooms in Watsonville, CA.
“A lot of the organic customers seem a little more likely to experiment or are interested in flavors and different types of items than just the conventional product,” says Kevin Donovan, national sales manager at Phillips Mushroom Farms in Kennett Square, PA.
Bill Litvin, vice president of sales at Giorgio Fresh Co. in Temple, PA, says the organic category is seeing “extremely strong growth,” but Kevin Delaney, vice
president of sales and marketing at To-Jo Mushrooms in Avondale, PA, says they might not be the best option for stores with limited space and SKUs [stock keeping units].
“I don’t think there’s too much of a difference between conventional and organic in the consumers’ eyes,” says Delaney. “Mushrooms in general are grown indoors, so there’s not that same mindset of maybe field crops and the value of having organic SKUs with it.”
Reyes notes demand for specialty mushrooms also has been boosted by increased interest from younger genera- tions in wild mushroom foraging.
“If you want to go out there and forage you want to know what you’re doing, whereaswiththecultivatedspecialtymush- rooms you know what you’re going to get,” says Reyes. “You don’t have to worry about the identification risk, cleaning like you would out in the wild, and there’s year- round availability, whereas in the wild it’s very seasonal.”
Tamarack Holdings of Traverse City, MI, is one mushroom supplier that is focused on wild-foraged mushrooms, predomi- nantly for the foodservice sector.
“The exception is we do have a small line of dried mushrooms that we sell in retail sizes. Those are marketed to grocery stores and vendors of that sort,” says David Eger, Tamarack’s product develop- ment and marketing content specialist.
For retailers looking to merchandise dried wild mushrooms, Eger recommends placing the product in a few different spots within each store.
“Placing them in the cooler section with fresh mushrooms is always a good move because people are already shop- ping for mushrooms,” he says. “Other good places for dried mushrooms are also the Asian aisle and the gourmet aisle; they don’t require special handling and can pretty much hang anywhere.”
But just like the fresh product, educa- tion is also key for dried wild mushrooms.
“We suggest people put it in hot water — it doesn’t need to be boiling — for 20 to 30 minutes until it’s soft and pliable. At that point it can be drained, patted dry and used,” says Eger. “At that stage we always recommend [saving] the liquid, in which the mushrooms were soaked for reconstitution to be saved, and used in recipes as well. pb