Last visited 8/22
In case you didn't know, Kennett Square, Pa. is the mushroom capitol of the world!!! Why, you ask, do I care? WELLLLL....if you are down in the area, stop and get some dinner!
Kennett Square grows around 65% of all mushrooms consumed in the US, with Monterey, Ca ranked 2nd, and Reading, Pa ranked 3rd. They are the largest cash crop in Pennsylvania at about $500 million annually, and it employs 10,000 people in this area. They are so committed to mushrooms in this area that they drop a mushroom "ball" on New Year's Eve!
There are a number of places to visit, but many do not give tours of the production areas any longer due to Covid. However, we visited the Mushroom Museum at Phillips to see a little bit about the history of this company in particular, but also of the industry's history. Find more information here: https://www.thewoodlandsatphillips.com/mushroom-exhibit
It is said that a couple of Quakers started to grow mushrooms here under their beds in their greenhouses. The area is well suited for the growing because of the three season growing year; the infrastructure linking it to nearby Philadelphia, NY and Washington, DC; and the abundance of dung located in nearby cities. It was even pointed out that they would bring dung down from NYC on trains for the mushroom production. Yech. Currently, you can find 20 acres of steaming, smelly compost made up of horse manure, hay and cocoa shells (the secret ingredient from nearby Hershey's chocolate factory!) just waiting to be used to grow mushrooms. First, it is pasteurized and then the mushroom spores are added and allowed to grow. They grow in windowless buildings that you can see dotting the landscape as you drive.
All of this can be learned at the Mushroom museum, a small one room learning experience at Phillips. They even had some growing mushrooms on display. There are several movies that you can sit and watch both on the history of the company and on mushrooms in general. We were expecting something more, but how big of a museum could there be on mushroom growing? It was well kept, clean and we enjoyed our visit. The old home houses the retail area where fresh mushrooms of various types as well as prepared foods and souvenirs can be purchased. Prices are to be expected, and range from a couple dollars for small trinkets to hand carved wooden mushrooms that stand as high as your thighs for several hundred dollars. They were awesome, but hard to find a place to meld with our decor, unfortunately. Stop by and visit them!
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