Mana Mushrooms

Once harvested, the button mushroom has a shelf life of about 7 days under optimum conditions. This long shelf life is part of the reason that 'button mushrooms', 'crimini', 'whites', 'baby bellas' and other agarics are dominant in the US market: we love 'em fresh: without visual blemish or apparent imperfection. This, too can be said of many other types of food we enjoy, so it comes as little surprise to even the amateur foodie.

The shelf life for shiitake mushrooms is 3 weeks, and for oyster mushrooms, about 3 days (Wuest). Other oyster mushrooms, like the King Oyster, have longer shelf lives. Freshly-harvested mushrooms must be kept refrigerated at 35˚ F to 45˚ F. To prolong shelf life, it is important that mushrooms "breathe" after harvest; storage in a waxed paper bag or a cardboard box is preferred to a plastic bag. If you have purchased your mushrooms at a farmers market, it is characteristic to have them in a brown paper bag. If you will be out at the market long, or if you biked there and it is a long ride before you'll be able to get them refrigerated, it is advisable to bring a damp towelette to keep the humidity in the bag relatively high: mushrooms are mostly water.

Mushroom operations usually package their own mushrooms. The mushrooms are packaged and placed into four-, eight-, or twelve-ounce tills (boxes). Runners then take the full till to a packaging station in the house. There, the till is weighed (mushrooms lose weight through water loss by the time they get to their final destination), and then it is wrapped and labeled. Growers who package their mushrooms in tills receive premium prices for their product. Some growers still ship their mushrooms in bulk to wholesalers, who inspect, weigh, pack, slice, and over-wrap. Mushrooms sold to the restaurant industry are often blanched and then packed in liquid, increasing their shelf life to 4 to 5 weeks. Mushrooms for processing are shipped in 20-pound lugs.