Mushroom Lovers Delight in Gourmet Growers

Duncan Soldner is the first to admit he’s not a cook but he knows how to dish up flavor at the, just the same. Soldner sells mushrooms, in fact, he’s a mushroom specialist.

Soldner's business, Gourmet Growers, is located on Vine Street in Healdsburg, though of course, that’s not where the mushrooms are grown.

Way back in the '70s, Soldner was going to law school when a friend opened a mushroom fertilizer business. His friend asked him to come in to work in the lab, and in just five hours and a tour of the facility, Soldner was hooked on mushrooms.

Now, he sees mushrooms as the “most sustainable form of agriculture practiced in the world.

“New innovations are making the field even more sustainable,” said Soldner at the final Tuesday night Farmers’ Market.

“Water drains into the sump and then it’s circulated and reused,” he went on. “Mushrooms grow on recycled material like industry wood byproducts or gypsum recycled from wallboard.

“Mushrooms are also grown on wheat straw, cottonseed hulls, cottonseed meal and rice hulls,” he continued. As for the gypsum, “It’s pasteurized post consumer.”

“It holds micronutrients,” Soldner went on. “This is also a zero wastewater system.”

In 1978, Soldner rented two buildings with two partners. Now they design mushroom farms and consult in the mushroom industry.

The mushrooms Soldner sells at the Healdsburg Farmers’ Market come from Petaluma (white button) or Colusa (brown crimini or portabella).

Gourmet Growers in the form of Soldner has been at the Healdsburg Farmers’ Market for the last two years and he sells at a market in San Francisco, as well. In addition, Shelton’s Natural Foods Market carries Gourmet Growers’ mushrooms.

There was a time when Soldner grew shitake mushrooms at the Donald B. Mills facility on Hassett Lane at Lytton but, since the largest seed producer of shitake has gone out of business, he’s been unable to use that facility. Soldner still hopes to do business there again when he finds a supplier of a certain strain of shitake

Mushroom growing is an art that includes new technology. They are grown indoors where the climate can be controlled. LED indoor lighting has lowered the cost of electricity, making the process more affordable. The optimum growing temperature of mushrooms is 66 degrees Fahrenheit.

The compost the mushrooms grow on also generates heat. Ask Soldner and he draws diagrams on the back of paper bags to explain the process.

“Mushrooms are surprisingly nutritious,” he said. “They are the ‘meat of the produce department’—containing 3 percent protein.” Meat has as estimated 25-28 percent protein.

“They have a ‘meat mouth feel,’” said Soldner. “They are used as a meat replacement or extender in Europe.

“Mushrooms are grown widely in Asia,” Soldner states, “On a small grower basis.

“But mushroom farms are dwindling as old farms run out of energy,” said Soldner. “In the 1970s large corporations wanted to ‘green’ their images, so they grew mushrooms.

“But there wasn’t enough profit for the big producers like Dole and Ralston Purina,” he continued, “So when property values in the southern part of the Silicon Valley rose, development ‘took ‘em out.’”

Gourmet Growers, represented by Duncan Soldner, will continue to sell mushrooms at the Healdsburg Farmers’ Market through the month of November. After that, mushroom aficionados will still be able to purchase them at Shelton’s Market.

Fall weather brings out the urge to dine on hearty stews and soups and mushrooms make an excellent base or added ingredient to these delicious dishes.