US (NY): Vegan chef and her flowering mushroom skills

Nov 06, 2024

A 'big player' in the vegan and plant-based food movement, Choi was born in Seoul, Korea, and her family immigrated to New York City when she was three years old. On her menu, Choi highlights the partnerships with local farmers and purveyors. When asked where she sources her mushrooms for the dishes she's about to create, the answer is undoubtedly: Flowering Sun Ecology Center in Ellenville. Together, they are committed to preserving sacred traditions and biodiversity to benefit future generations.

From foraging to fruitingThe farm is just an acre, and every square inch is packed. After harvest, Hackney and Kanda lead Chronogram to a converted barn that houses their mushroom lab which allows them to produce their organic mushrooms commercially and in a greater volume. Here, they can also control the environment, temperature, airflow, and humidity, for the entire sterilization, inoculation, and incubation process.

The growing process begins with a substrate of organic pellets, a mix of hardwood and soy hulls, which provide nutrients for the mycelium to colonize and form. The pellets are placed in a grow block and put in special bags that can withstand high temperatures. They're sterilized and "cooked" for 18 hours to get rid of bacteria before being moved to a secondary sterilization room where the spawn is added to the substrate for inoculation and the process of fruiting begins.

Spreading the fungusAfter the lab, the tour moves to the grow room, which is now in its third iteration, as Kanda and Hackney have outgrown the first and second. A cosmic space, it houses varieties like lion's mane, oyster, and coral, all at different stages of growth. Red lights enable fruiting, blue lights provide vegetative growth, and a full spectrum light provides both, which is ideal.

Read the entire article at Chonogram