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24 North American Natural Resources: Timber and Forest Products
Edible Mushrooms
Mushrooms are an important part of many recipes and foods. Most likely, the
mushrooms in your local supermarket or in a salad bar were grown on a mushroom
farm. However, many mushrooms are found in the forests of North America.
Mushrooms can be harvested from the forest floor, or from the decaying logs found
there. But they can also be
cultivated
as a business. In fact, it is possible not only
to harvest, but also to farm, exotic mushrooms in the forest. Mushrooms such as
shiitake, maitake, and oyster mushrooms can also be grown in a forest, generally by a
farmer who specializes in using forest resources to grow crops.
Mushrooms grow best on the logs of hardwood trees. Mushroom farmers cut
down hardwood trees as part of their regular forest management. The logs are cut
during the winter and early spring. Special care is taken while cutting the trees to
make sure that the outer layer of bark is not damaged. A series of holes are drilled into
A pink oyster mushroom growing on an oyster farm.