GROWING GOURMET - Anto2ni.it

426 HARVESTING, STORING AND PACKING
harvest mushrooms from horizontal beds,
eliminating the largest labor contingent in a
mushroom farm—the pickers.
Packaging and Storing the
Crop for Market
Once mushrooms have been harvested, they
must be quickly chilled. Most pickers at mushroom
farms place mushrooms directly into
open-grate plastic baskets which are frequently
ferried to the cold room. The larger farms utilize
blast chillers, which precipitously drop the
temperature of the mushroom from room temperature
to near freezing. A common mistake
many growers make is to place their fresh
mushroom directly into cardboard boxes after
picking. Cardboard boxes insulate the mushrooms
after harvest, essentially preventing
them from being rapidly cooled. During or after
cooling, mushrooms are sorted and
packaged. Once cooled, the mushrooms must
not be re-warmed until delivery. The ideal temperature
for storage is 340 F. (1-2° C.). (See
Lomax (1990) and Hardenburg (1986)).
Mushrooms are sorted according to markets
to which they are destined. The Japanese are by
far the connoisseurs of the world in terms of
quality standards for marketing. So strict are
their standards that many North American
growers have been unable to penetrate the Japanese
market. The Japanese also have the
advantage of having a large pool of specialty
growers who can coordinate their product lines
to best fill their complex market requirements.
Mushrooms are carefully graded according to
type, size and form. Currently, in North
America, the markets are relatively unsophisticated
and the primary concern is for freshness.
In the United States, a loosely adhered-to grading
system is followed by some growers,
buyers, and sellers. Number #1 Shiitakes are
usually 3-5 inches across, dark brown in color,
with incurved margins, usually adorned with
veil remnants. Number #2 are basically #1's
which have more or less fully expanded. Number
#2's are often lighter in color and exceed
4-5 inches in diameter. Number #3'sshow some
damage, either to the gills or cap margin and are
often deformed. Number #3's vary in size from
tiny to excessive large mushrooms. I find it interesting
that Americans, as a culture, have
historically favored large mushrooms. Currently,
in markets in San Francisco, large
Shiitake are selling for several dollars per pound
more than small ones.
Once mushrooms are sorted to grade, they
are packaged for market. Restaurants generally
prefer 5-7 lb. boxes. (See Figures 379.) Packages
for consumers typically weigh 3, 5 or 7
ounces, a trick employed by many marketers to
disguise the actual price per pound. (It's not
easy for the consumer to divide 16 ounces (1 lb.)
by 3, 5, or 7 to determine the actual price per
pound.) In the United States, packages of fresh
mushrooms should be small enough so that they
can be grasped by one hand, and ideally retail at
or below $2.00. Once the sale price to the consumer
exceeds the $2.00 threshold, a precipitous
decline in sales is seen. If every 3 oz. package sold
for $2.00, the retail price would be $10.66 per lb.
Most retailers consider a 40% mark-up fair.
This gives the growers $6.40/lb. at the wholesale
level.
Another tactic commonly used with the Button
mushroom is to sell the mushrooms loose
in a tray, and have the consumers fill small paper
bags imprinted with information on
handling, cooking, etc... The consumer can be
more selective in picking the mushrooms most
desirable. However, every time the mushrooms
are rummaged through, they suffer in quality.
Although Button mushrooms are often sold
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