In rural Southern Ontario near the small town of Putnam on a beautiful 62 acre property you will find Whitecrest Mushrooms. Established in 1985, Murray and Chantelle Good purchased the farm in 2002 and began growing mushrooms.
In 2010, devastation occurred when lightening struck and burnt the whole barn down. It took twenty hours to completely put the fire out, and a very long and stressful two years to rebuild. Fast forward 7 years to today, and the Goods’ operate year round production of Portobello, Portobellini and Cremini mushrooms in a controlled environment using state of the art technology and quality assurance practices. With six growing rooms, Whitecrest produces an average of 40,000 pounds of Certified Organic, Certified SQF (Safe Quality Food) mushrooms per week. Since mushrooms grow naturally there is no need for treatment with chemicals. Instead the growing rooms are low oxygen and high temperature sanitized in between each 6 week growing cycle. They are traffic and temperature controlled, the air is filtered, and the water is UV treated and softened. The Whitecrest team of growers and pickers go beyond industry standard to insure a high quality product.
The Good’s business has allowed them to not only provide a high quality product to consumers and wholesalers, but to also contribute to the local economy by creating jobs for local people, collaborating with other producers to create value add products and sell local products in their family farm retail shop. In addition to their mushroom operation, the property boasts a 22 acre tree plantation and 5 acres of Arctic Kiwi trees which are in their fourth year of production.
Mushrooms are a versatile fungi and their Umami flavour can provide a great savoury profile to many dishes. They are rich in important minerals such as potassium and selenium and can contribute to a healthy immune system. Purchasing mushrooms from a local producer like Whitecrest insures that you are getting the most benefits, in terms of flavour and nutritional value, since the mushrooms have not traveled long distances to reach your table.
Click here to view Whitecrest’s shop on FreshSpoke.
Lana Ogston is a Certified Holistic Nutritional Consultant and is a Customer Activation Specialist with FreshSpoke. You can connect with Lana on Linkedin, and keep up with FreshSpoke on Facebook and Twitter.