Visits to the New Hampshire Mushroom Company stand at the Winter Farmers Market can be unpredictable.
The mushroom company delivers much of its gourmet mushrooms to restaurants on the Seacoast or near it’s Tamworth home base, so it’s farmers market offerings depend on what they have available. But there are some usual suspects.
“For the most part we always have lion’s mane, elms, some variety of oyster – blue oyster, brown oyster, sometimes we have pink or yellow – chestnuts and shiitake,” said Stephanie Doyle, 31, of Tamworth last week at Cole Gardens in Concord.
She was already sold out of the shiitake and chestnuts but had combo bags of elms, blue oysters and lion’s mane mushrooms.
These specialty mushrooms look very different from the common white button mushrooms found in the grocery store. Some are gray or yellow. Some have long, thin stems and wavy umbrella tops. Others look almost fuzzy.
But do they taste any different?
“There’s a lot of different flavor profiles you can get. Some are on the nutty side, some are mild,” Doyle said. “There’s just a lot more variety.”
She went on to explain that the common mushrooms in the store – the stubby white ones, the browns sometimes called baby bellas, and even the portobellos are all the same species in different stages of growth.
Some recommended uses:
Oysters: The delicate flavors go nicely with eggs in dishes like quiche and omelets
Elms: A stronger flavor that won’t be lost in heavy, overpowering meat dishes including burgers, steaks and stroganoff
Lion’s mane: Really nice in a tomato sauce and can be used as a seafood substitute
Chestnuts: Their nutty flavor is perfect for a stir fry dish or roasted chicken
Shiitake: Meaty flavor, nice in soups and stir fries
King oysters: Meaty flavor that’s similar to portabello only stronger, these giants can be stuffed or sliced and grilled
Once purchased, mushrooms will last at least a week.
In terms of washing and prepping, “you really don’t have to do anything to them,” Doyle said.
The mushrooms her company sells are grown indoors on sawdust blocks, not in dirt or compost, and are picked by hand. And if there was any “dirt,” washing could create mushy results, especially with the more delicate varieties.
“Mushrooms already have a lot of water and they absorb water, so especially with the lion’s mane, you wouldn’t want to wash it because you’ll saturate it,” she said.
“We always suggest just taking a dry paper towel and just wiping off the dirt if there is any that you’re concerned about.”
When it comes to cooking gourmet mushrooms, Doyle recommends a simple saute with butter and onions, just like you might with the white button mushrooms from the grocery store.
“We recommend that you don’t eat them raw,” she said, especially when dealing with wild varieties.
If you’re curious about the New Hampshire Mushroom Company, you can find them at the Concord Farmers Market or visit them at the Tamworth farm which has been up and running since 2012. Free drop-in tours are offered Sundays at noon, yearround.