What are Edible and Medicinal Mushrooms?

Edible and medicinal mushrooms are the mushrooms that are fungal fruit bodies that are either cultivated or collected from the wild for use as food and/or medicine. Many mushrooms you find in the grocery stores are cultivated edible and medicinal mushrooms. The popular Button mushroom (Agaricus bisporus ) is mainly used for food. Other mushrooms like the Shiitake (Lentinula edodes) , Oysters (Pleurotus species) , Maitake (Grifola frondosa ) Lion's mane (Herecium erinaceus ) etc. are consumed for their nutritional values and acclaimed medicinal benefits. Mushrooms like Reishi ( Ganoderma lucidum ) and Turkey tail ( Coriolus versicolor) are used strictly for medicinal purposes.

What types of edible and medicinal mushrooms can you grow in North Carolina?

North Carolina is relatively warm when compared to many states across the US. Therefore it will be better and more economical to grow those mushrooms that are warm temperature loving so that a grower will not incure high overhead cost in growing popular mushrooms that require low temperatures for cultivation, e.g. the button mushroom. In line with this, we have isolated many strains of local edible and medicinal mushrooms in addition to other exotic warm temperature loving strains of mushrooms that we can make available to growers in North Carolina who would like to begin to grow mushrooms. Take a tour and see a presentation here .

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