Commercial mushroom growing starts with the production of a starter culture of spawn in a laboratory. A tiny piece of a selected mushroom is placed on a sterilised growing medium of agar, where it develops fine filaments known as mycelia. The threads of mycelia are transferred to jars of sterile cereal grain. They soon spread their fuzzy white growths through the grain, forming a material known as spawn. This is mixed into steam-pasteurised compost and put in trays or bags. These are placed in rooms with controlled temperature and humidity, and mushrooms appear some two to three weeks later.
Using this item
Te Ara - The Encyclopedia of New Zealand
This item has been provided for private study purposes (such as school projects, family and local history research) and any published reproduction (print or electronic) may infringe copyright law. It is the responsibility of the user of any material to obtain clearance from the copyright holder.
Add new comment