McMinnville’s Farmers Market held its first showing of the season on Saturday, drawing in crowds with flowers, plants, baked and canned goods — and even some mushrooms.
Flavorful Fungi, run by Warren County natives Danny and Tiffany, is a frequent vendor at the farmers market and offers a variety of popular mushrooms to market-goers. The couple grows 12 different types of mushrooms.
The mushrooms grown by Flavorful Fungi have a variety of benefits depending on the fungi in question. Golden oyster mushrooms are known for their medicinal effects and is reportedly a good source of protein, fiber and antioxidants which support heart health and immunity. Deaton described the lion’s mane mushrooms, one of her other offerings, as having a fish-like flavor, which makes it perfect for use in seafood recipes.
“It has a great flavor, it’s almost like seafood. We use it in crab cakes, and sometimes I mix it with any of the oyster mushrooms to make fish tacos,” Tiffany Deaton said. “They make a delicious combination. I started out this journey not really liking the taste of mushrooms, but now I love them.”
Deaton indicated the journey to mushroom farming had a beginning with a cluster of lion’s mane mushrooms she discovered by happenstance while on a walk. Fascinated, her husband Danny began to test the waters with growing mushrooms, which created a surplus which was going unused as the family did not initially have a taste for them.
“In the beginning, we had so much extra. I didn’t like mushrooms, the kids didn’t like mushrooms — I was just not into it,” Deaton said. “That’s when I started cooking with them because we didn’t want to waste them and throw them out. I found some recipes, like the tacos and crab cakes, and a bunch of others that really transformed our view of them. We went from hating mushrooms to loving them, they’re a staple for us now.”
She added store-bought and canned mushrooms don’t hold a candle to the fresh varieties, even though the growing process is very involved and a careful balancing act of several steps to see them through to fruition. Deaton described it as a bit like an assembly line with a unique stage to every part.
“There’s definitely a process and people would think they’d grow in a dark place that’s hum-glum and dark, but we actually have grow lights because our mushrooms wouldn’t have any color otherwise,” Deaton explained. “It’s all bright and cheery in the garage we renovated for our mushroom farming.”
The whole family is involved with the process, a part of the adventure Deaton is particularly fond of. She and her husband often tend to the mushrooms after their children go to bed, and they teach them about them wherever possible.
“We’ve been doing this for four years now,” Deaton said. “We were just a normal little budding family going on a hike, and now we are doing this and having our kids with us and being an active part of it. It’s been very rewarding and I love being able to talk to and educate people about mushrooms when we’re out on the market.”
The Deatons can be contacted through the Flavorful Fungi Facebook page, by phone at (931) 657-7295 or tnfungi@gmail.com for orders or inquiries.
