AGRICULTURAL SCIENCES

MUSHROOM CULTIVATION
(AGA -453)
B.Sc. (Hons.), B.Sc. Integrated MBA

Chandigarh University

Gharuan (Mohali)
Aim of the Practical: Processing and Preservation of mushrooms
Mushrooms represent one of the most perishable commodities; being so delicate by nature they
need special postharvest treatment. Freshly harvested mushrooms have very limited shelf life
and need to be consumed within few hours/ days. Food, nutritional and medicinal values apart,
mushroom growing can be efficient and eco-friendly means of waste disposal (agricultural,
industrial and family wastes), since it can use the wastes as medium of fungal growth. Efforts
should be made to sell mushrooms as early as possible in a fresh condition; otherwise these can
be preserved and stored for a longer period in a dried or canned form. A number of physiological
processes take place in freshly cut mushrooms and during storage (pileus and veil opening, stipe
elongation, browning, etc.) which results in decrease in their commercial and nutritional value.
The rate at which these processes occur in mushrooms during storage is affected by factors such
as strain resistance and physiological behavior, room temperature and relative humidity, and the
presence of microorganisms.
Post harvest practices in mushroom cultivation:
A. Harvesting: Generally button mushrooms are harvested after 3 weeks of casing when the
CAP size is 30-45mm in diameter whereas oyster mushrooms are harvested when the fruiting
becomes curled under edges and well formed gills. Mostly it is based on the partial veil; which
should be intact at the time of harvesting. The time and stage of harvesting matters a lot from the
marketing point of view. Button mushrooms are harvested with delicate hands with the help of
two fingers and a thumb. Harvesting is the most labour intensive activity in mushroom
cultivation as individual mushroom has to be handpicked at the proper stage as in case of tea
industry.
B. Grading, packing and storage:
Soon after harvest, mushrooms have to be cleaned and graded before sending to the market or
storage in a cool atmosphere. The grading and sorting is done according to their colour (pure
white, slightly brown, damaged), size, stage of the cap or partial veil (Intact, slightly open,
open), length of the stem etc. Grading is generally done on the basis of size of the button, shape
of pileus and opening of gills etc. Button mushrooms are graded into Grade A, B and C. The
Directorate of Marketing and Inspection had formulated the grade standards for dried edible
mushrooms. The mushrooms for fresh market are packed in plastic containers, perforated
polythene bags of 100 gauge thickness or loose bags at varying packages. For long distant
transport, instead of polythene bags; pulp board punnets wrapped with PVC films are used. The
CFB (Corrugated Fiber Board) cartons containing polythene pouches of mushrooms are
generally transported by refrigerated trucks. Mushrooms can be stored in cold storage at 1-2ºC
for a number of days or in deep freezers at below 0ºC or in vacuum freezers where water in cell
walls and interhyphal spaces is evaporated with a vacuum that brings temperature from ambient
to 2-3ºC in 15-20 minutes. Mushrooms should be packed generally in polythene bags
(perforated) and placed gently inside the cardboard boxes with some paper packings so that they
do not get pressed or jerked during transportation.
C. Transportation:
Mushrooms can be stored at low temperature (4-5ºC) for 3-4 days only. These are to be
transported in cool environment, either in ice boxes or in refrigerated vans and once they reach
the market, they must be immediately transferred to the deep freezer.
D. Preservation of mushrooms: due to highly perishable nature of fruiting bodies, preservation
of mushroom becomes necessary. Important preservation methods followed are canning,
individual quick freezing, vacuum freeze drying, drying, pickling, steeping and radiation based
preservation etc.
a) Canning and Freeze drying:
 For canning, mushrooms are harvested at the appropriate stage i.e. before opening,
cleaned properly in cold water, blanched by dipping in boiling water for 4-5
minutes, graded and filled in standard canning jars which are then filled up to the
brim with hot and boiling citric acid or vinegar solution and cooked by passing
through a steamer for 4-5 minutes before sealing with a cap or lid. These sealed
can jars are then pasteurized in an autoclave at 10 lbs. psi for 30-40 minutes,
cooled and kept under observation for sometime before labeling. Steps followed in
canning are Cleaning, Blanching, Can filling, Sterilization, Cooling and Labelling.
 In freezing method, ninety percent water content of mushroom fruit bodies become
crystallized and mushroom are held together by ice crystals rather than by their
own cellular structure. The ideal method of drying and freezing is the freeze-drying
technique. Here every part and content of mushroom is preserved, including the
flavour, form, nutritional and medicinal contents. But it is a very costly method
and only few can afford it.
b. Drying: When mushroom production increases manifold, it becomes difficult to market fresh
ones, especially in favorable peak season. During that period prices also come down and it is not
affordable for small growers from hilly areas to send their produce in the market. The only
alternative for them is either to dry their produce or go for preservation. Most of the mushrooms
have 90-95 % water, hence very difficult to dry them and some like A. bisporus, Calocybe
indica, Stropharia sp etc; cannot be dried as they possess poor rehydration quality and become
brown and black due to heat. Many other mushrooms like species of Pleurotus, Auricularia,
Morchella, Lentinulla, Ganoderma, Flammulina, Sparassis, Pholiota etc; can be dried and
packed for long duration storage. In hilly areas people generally stitch garlands of freshly picked
mushrooms in steel wire or thread and keep them hanging in the sun or near their kitchen for 6-7
days for drying and thus preserve them. Now-a-days apart from sun drying, bigger and
sophisticated Mechanical Dehydrators are available in the market. A good dryer should have the
capacity to dry mushrooms within 24-48 hours by passing warm air not hotter than 110 ºF. The
damaged and insect infested fruiting bodies should never be dried but discarded. Once properly
dried (0.1 - o.5 % moisture content), these should be carefully packed in airtight polythene bags
and hermetically sealed so that air does not pass through it.
E. Marketing:
 Since mushrooms are highly sensitive and early perishable products, these should
reach to the market as early as possible, immediately after the harvest. In most of the farms,
workers get up at about 1or 2 AM in the morning and operations like harvesting, cutting,
cleaning and packaging are completed by 4 AM so that they may reach to the market along
with their produce by 6 AM. The white colour is preferred by the consumers; hence to
increase the whiteness and shelf life, most of the growers in Asian countries treat or wash
their button mushroom produce in 0.05 per cent KMS or Potassium metabisulphite
solution for 1 minute (5 g in 10 litre water).
 In India mushrooms are sent to the market either in loose packing or in poly
packets of different weights and sold through auction in vegetable markets or through
vegetable vendors. Mushrooms packed in attractive boxes and covered with attractive papers
are known to fetch higher price as compared with the mushrooms in ordinary packings.
 Individual farmers going to the markets for selling their produce are generally
exploited by the traders. The growers must form a cooperative society and members should
abide by its rules and regulations which will work for the production as well as marketing of
their mushrooms in a joint manner. Society can also get the latest market trend through
internet and inform its members regularly so that they may be able to sell their produce in
the market where higher prices are being offered.

Flow chart of post-harvest practices in mushroom cultivation,

 Harvesting

Grading

Pre-cooling

Fresh Processed

Packing
Polypouches Cartons

Transportation
By Road By Air

Marketing

Domestic Trade Export

Note:
 Minimal processing is a new approach for extending mushrooms’ shelf-life more easy
and natural than conventional processing techniques (e.g., canning and drying), with little
effect on primary characteristics of the produce. It includes Modified Atmosphere
Packaging (MAP), Controlled Atmosphere Packaging (CAP), washing, use of chemicals,
blanching, radiation, use of moisture absorbers (e.g., sorbitol), or coatings. MAP and
CAP include the use of plastic permeable film system which overwraps packed
mushrooms and as a result, restricts the transfer of gases (CO2 and O2) and creates an
atmosphere poor in O2 and rich in CO2. It is the simplest, most economical, and effective
method for limiting tissue respiration rate, reducing microbial growth, and extending the
shelf-life of mushrooms.
 Washing is occasionally used by mushroom growers for removing soil, as mushrooms
are not generally washed; this is because after washing, mushrooms have a water-soak
appearance and moisture penetration eventually leads to increased microbe populations.
Also, darkening and bronzing of the pilei often occur after washing as a result of enzyme
o-phenoloxidase release from damaged substrates, not only in fresh but also in frozen
mushrooms.
 Another aspect of modern mushroom processing concerns techniques aiming at the
value-addition of the product as well as environmental aspects such as waste disposal and
utilization of waste and off-grade mushrooms.