Thursday, January 31, 2019

SHROOMS--Crispy Mushroom Snacks & More

Looking for a healthy crispy snack this year? Then look no further than SHROOMS™ Crispy Mushroom Snacks made with North American-grown mushrooms. These snacks are the brainchild of two mushroom growing farms-- South Mill Mushrooms , and Champ's Mushrooms™  (they combined companies, January 2018). "We are getting into a new line of snacks, which is our SHROOMS™ line," said Jeff Schrett, Vice President of Sales & Marketing for South Mill Mushrooms, during an interview at Produce Marketing Association's (PMA) Fresh Summit, last year in Orlando, Florida.

SHROOMS™ Crispy Mushroom snacks at the Produce Marketing Association's
Fresh Summit, Orlando, Fla.
Copyright 2018 by Helen A Lockey

"Mushrooms are definitely on trend right now and we found the millennial audience is really looking for a healthy snack. They like to graze through the day and were looking for people to fill their needs. So the folks that are camping, biking, sailing, and canoeing...this is a snack that they can bring with them and it is very fulfilling. It's a family friendly, wholesome snack, and it's good for you," said Schrett.

And not only are the SHROOMS™ crispy mushrooms good for you but they are also good for the environment because everything is grown indoors with compost made by the mushroom farmers, according to Schrett. "We actually make our own compost...and we also give back at the end process. A lot of our used compost gets recycled and sent back out for folks to use in gardens and things like that," said Schrett.

SHROOMS™ Portobella Mushroom Jerky,
Produce Marketing Association's Fresh Summit,
Orlando, Fla.
Copyright 2018 by Helen A. Lockey

South Mill Mushrooms started growing oyster mushrooms over 80-years ago, and now they grow other types of mushrooms along with the oysters, including Cremini, Button, Portabella, Maitake, Enoke and Shiitake. Champ's Mushrooms™ started growing conventional and organic mushrooms over 15-years ago.

Both farms now grow over 100 million pounds of fresh mushrooms a year. "We grow all the mushrooms, everything that is going to be used in our snack line, clusters, bars etcetera everything is made from our own fresh mushrooms," Schrett said.

The SHROOMS™ snack line includes crisps, bars and jerky. All are non-GMO. Of the snacks available for sale, online at the moment, some are vegan, some are plant-based, and some are vegetarian. You can purchase them through their website (for large orders) or through Amazon (for smaller orders).

There are future mushroom jerky lines called SHROOM™ SPLITS on their website www.itsamushroom.com that include other ingredients.

One last detail, everything on the SHROOMS™ line is shelf stable for a year. "We don't anticipate that anyone is going to keep it on the shelf, in the cabinet for a year. It's going to be a snack package, one of those you can't put down," said Schrett.



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