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Weekly UpdatesGolden Gourmet Mushrooms, Inc. (GGM) has been cultivating and introducing new species of mushrooms to North American consumers since 1987. GGM's original production facility consisted of a 60,000 square foot building. From 1987 to 1994, the company used a bulk-pasteurization method to grow Oyster mushrooms on suspended columns of wheat straw. In 1991 an additional 20,000 square feet of production was added to develop Japanese bottle production technology to produce mushrooms on steam-sterilized substrates in autoclavable, re-usable, high-density polypropylene bottles. This production technology was imported from Japan from the Hokuto Corporation, the largest producers of Kinoko in Japan. Kinoko is the Japanese word for mushrooms, literally "children of the woods."
The expanded facilities were used to produce high-quality Enoki (Flammulina velutipes) mushrooms on a consistent basis in significant amounts. Previously, only Enoki imported from Japan and a small amount of domestic Enoki produced at two farms were available in the states. The bottle production technology and computer-controlled growing environments proved to be very efficient at producing a consistent, high-quality product. The technology also proved to be very versatile and allowed for the production of several additional species of mushrooms. Over time, the entire production facility was adapted and retrofitted to use the bottle technology and methodology. In 1999, King Trumpet and Beech mushroom production was initiated and subsequently expanded several times. In 2004, Maitake (Hen-of-the-woods) production was initiated.
In 2004, GGM and their 12-year business partner Hokuto Corporation of Nagano, Japan started discussions regarding the construction of a new state-of-the-art fresh mushroom production facility at the company's San Marcos, CA location. Agreements between the two companies were forged and the engineering and strategic planning was initiated in 2005. Demolition of GGM's original production facility was completed in 2006 and, Hokto Kinoko Company (the U.S. division of Hokuto Corporation) started construction of the new 250,000 square foot facility on the same site as the original GGM production facility.
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The permitting and engineering of this facility was a challenge. While Hokuto has 25 production facilities in Japan, each of those facilities was designed to produce only one species. The San Marcos facility is designed to produce three species: Pleurotus eryngii, Grifola frondosa and Hysizygus marmoreus. Each species has its own unique substrate formulation, bottle and filter cap specifications, growth cycle, environmental optimums and packaging requirements. Fitting everything together efficiently under one roof was a design challenge.
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During the transition period between the demolition of the old fresh mushroom production facility and the completion of the new production facility, GGM implemented an importation program in order to continue to support customers with high-quality, fresh mushrooms. The imported mushrooms were produced by Hokuto Corporation in Japan using the same production and packaging technologies that were engineered for the new San Marcos, CA facility. In January 2007, five Hokuto Corporation production facilities in Japan were certified to produce Certified Organic fresh Maitake, King Trumpet and Brown & White Beech mushrooms for export to the United States to continue to facilitate the growth of the market in North America for these mushrooms. The mushrooms were Certified Organic under USDA-NOP standards.
The construction of the new facility was completed in the fall 2008. The facility has been described in the media as being a "Space Age" and "Star Wars" growing facility. Energy-efficiency was a high priority in the design and engineering of the facility and resulted in the highest energy efficiency rebate from a local electric utility company (SDG&E) in California history. There are more than two miles of conveyors in the facility to transport the baskets of bottles from filling, to sterilization, to inoculation, to incubation, to pinning, to fruiting, to harvest and packaging, to bottle-emptying and finally back to the filling area where the process starts over again. The facility incorporates extensive use of automation including robotic harvesting of the mature mushrooms from the bottles. In fact, three of the four mushrooms produced (Maitake, White Beech and Brown Beech) are untouched by human hands from bottle filling through the harvesting and packaging of the mushrooms. The King Trumpet is also robotically harvested but the base of the stem is hand-trimmed prior to packaging.
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After the mechanical/robotic harvest from the bottles, the Maitake and Beech mushrooms are immediately packaged and sealed into four-ounce retail packages. The packaging material is an engineered OCP film that contributes to the extended six to seven week shelf life of the fresh mushrooms. The air "pillow" in the sealed bag protects the delicate fruit bodies from mechanical damage during shipping and transport. The King Trumpets are packaged into six-ounce stretch-wrapped tills. All of the mushrooms are also packaged in bulk formats.
Harvesting of the first Maitake and King Trumpet crops started in December 2008 and the first harvests of the slower-growing White and Brown Beech mushrooms started in February 2009. The mushrooms are USDA-NOP Certified Organic. At full capacity, the facility will produce six million pounds per year.
The spent substrate from the mushroom production is currently used as a soil amendment. Plans are underway to use the spent substrate as an animal feed ingredient.
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The Kinoko Company was formed in 2008 to market the fresh mushrooms produced at this facility under the Golden Gourmet and Hokto brand labels. The Kinoko Company also labels the King Trumpet, Beech and Maitake mushrooms for several companies. The Kinoko Company promotes these "cultivated wild mushroom" products touting their superior shelf life, food-safety and nutritional merits. For example, the Maitake mushrooms produced in this system have an astounding 1250 IU of Vitamin D in a 100-gram serving and can serve as a "poster child" in the superfood category, according to Dylan Anderson, The Kinoko Company's President.
"Evolving from the original vision of promoting the health and nutrition benefits of new mushrooms species in North America, GGM has diversified into the functional food and health supplement arenas and produces medicinal mushroom powders marketed under the Mushroom Matrix trademark," said GGM's owner, Craig Anderson.
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The new facility has attracted a lot of media attention and has been shown on local Channel 10 Television news (http://www.10news.com/video/18209112/?taf=sand) and featured in many articles including the San Diego Union Tribune and the Los Angeles Times. The LA Times article was picked up by the Associated Press and went nationwide. Also, a recipe printed in the LA Times article, "Halibut and Shimeji in Parchment" was placed in the Top Ten Recipes of the Year list. "We feel our U.S. partners' longtime presence and marketing expertise, coupled with Hokto's state-of-the-art production technology and product quality, will work together with the opening of this facility to raise awareness of our cultivated wild mushrooms as mainstream food products in the North American market." said Ted Yamamoto, Vice President of Hokto Kinoko USA.
Steven Farrar
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COO of Golden Gourmet Mushrooms
PO Box 639
San Marcos, CA 92069, ggmsteven@aol.com
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