Urban farm on Ashby Ave in Berkeley, CA specializing in seasonal, sustainable cultivation of culinary and medicinal fungi. We take full advantage of the Bay Area’s climate with our unique outdoor fruiting process involving bright natural sunlight and temperature variation ensuring fuller, more nutritious mushrooms of exceptional quality and visual appeal.
"Crab" (Lion's Mane) Cakes
Pioppinos
Cordyceps
Chestnuts
Farmer's Market
Shiitake
Lion's Mane
Mushroom medley
Oysters
Pioppino Risotto
Fruiting Chamber
Fruiting Blocks
Get an inside look at our farm…
Meet the Mushrooms
Culinary mushrooms beyond agaricus bisporus (button and portobello) are only just beginning to gain popularity in the U.S. outside of Asian markets. Since many people may not be familiar with the varieties that we sell, we wanted to provide a brief guide.
Culinary Mushrooms
Oyster
Scientific Name: Pleurotus ostreatus What’s it like?: Oyster mushrooms are the perfect sauté mushrooms. They get bacon-y crisp and have a light umami flavor. Favorite recipes: Oysters are great with eggs, on toast, or in a basic stir fry. Also excellent on pizza. Health Benefits: Protect cells from damage and help strengthen the immune system.
Chestnut
Scientific name: Pholiota adiposa What’s it like?: Chestnuts have a soft, buttery texture and an earthy, nutty flavor. Favorite recipes: A simple pasta recipe with shallots and garlic, risotto, creamy chestnut mushroom soup Health benefits: Chestnut mushrooms are traditionally used to improve stomach health.
Pioppino
Other common name(s): black poplar, sword’s belt Scientific name: Cyclocybe aegerita What’s it like?: Velvety and soft, these are very pretty mushrooms. The caps have a soft texture, while the stems have a snap that’s often compared to asparagus Favorite recipes: Pioppino omelettes, pasta con funghi, mushroom miso soup Heath benefits: Known for its potential to slow down the negative effects of osteoporosis.
Shiitake
Scientific name: Lentinus edodes What’s it like?: Shiitake is well-known for it’s earthy flavor, which makes it popular for broth. Our shiitakes can be chewy and nutty. Favorite recipes: miso shiitake with tofu, sauteed sesame shiitake, ramen broth (save the stems for this!) Health Benefits: Studies in rats suggest shiitakes may boost heart health. A study published in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition found that shiitake mushrooms increased levels of T-cells, which are the white blood cells that protect your body from infection. The study also revealed that inflammation was reduced.
Lion’s Mane
Other common name(s): pom pom, Lion’s beard Scientific name: Hericium erinaceus What’s it like?: Lion’s mane’s texture is reminiscent of crab or chicken. Many compare the taste to lobster, but Maine native Emily thinks it’s waaaay better than seafood. Favorite recipes: lion’s mane noodle soup, lion’s mane “crab” cakes, lion’s mane pakora Health benefits: Lion’s mane is considered both a culinary and medicinal mushroom, and many people consume it in it’s dried form in pills or tea. Studies being conducted suggest lion’s mane is neuroprotective.
Black Pearl
Scientific Name: Pleurotus ostreatus What’s it like?: Black pearl is a hybrid of king trumpet and oyster mushrooms. It has a meaty texture reminiscent of shiitake and a strong umami flavor. Favorite recipes: Seared mushrooms with teriyaki glaze, vegan mushroom gravy, ramen Health benefits: Since black pearl are a variety of oyster mushroom, they have similar health benefits, including being an excellent source of nutrients like iron, zinc, calcium, folic acid, potassium, and numerous vitamins including C, D and several B vitamins.
King Trumpet
Other common names: king oyster Scientific Name: Pleurotus eryngii What’s it like?: King trumpet is the densest mushroom I sell. It’s stem has a texture that resembles scallops in being almost chewy. The stem can also be shredded to resemble chicken. It has a similar umami flavor to black pearl. Favorite Recipes: Mushroom burgers, vegan shredded rotisserie chicken, mushroom “scallops”, grilled mushrooms Health benefits: These mushrooms have been shown to aid with weight loss and lower cholesterol. They’re also linked to lower risk of breast and prostrate cancer.
Beech
Other common names: Shimeji Scientific name: Hypsizygus tessellatus What’s it like?: Beeches have a similar flvor to oyster mushrooms, light and umami. They have a great chewiness. I love searing them on one side. Favorite recipes: These are the perfect mushroom to toss in a noodle dish or stir fry. Also great in soups. Health benefits: One serving of beech mushrooms is a good source ofthiamine (134%), riboflavin (160%) and niacin (26%).
Nameko
Scientific name: Pholiota nameko What’s it like?: Namekos are cousins of chestnuts, and they also have a buttery texture and nutty, earthy flavor. They also have some carmel sweetness and are a bit firmer than chestnuts. They have naturally gelatinous tops that are prized for thickening soups and stews. Favorite recipes: Namekos are prized for miso soup, but they also make a delicious light stir fry with bok choy and tofu. Health benefits: Namekos are a rich source of fiber, vitamin C, selenium, and vitamin D and also help in increasing the strength of your immune system.
Medicinal Mushrooms
Cordyceps
Scientific name: cordyceps militaris What’s it like: Cordyceps has a sweet flavor. Favorite recipes: Dried cordyceps is typically consumed as a tea. Fresh cordyceps is excellent on pizza or in stirfry. Health benefits: Cordyceps is a cornerstone of traditional Chinese medicine. It is touted as a natural energy booster and often used as a caffeine-free coffee substitute.
Sustainability Initiatives
Nourished by California Sunshine
Fungi are not photosynthetic, but just like humans, they need exposure to natural sunlight in order to stay healthy and produce vitamin D. Yet most “gourmet” mushrooms produced in the US are stemmy and unappealing because they are mass-produced in indoor facilities under artificial lighting. It’s no wonder that mushrooms have been slow to catch on in American diets! A mushroom which has never seen the light of day is like a chicken which spends it whole life confined to a cage: it’s just not what nature intended, and you probably don’t want to eat it either.
Well known mycologist Paul Stamets has even advocated placing indoor-grown mushrooms out in the sun for a day or two after harvest to boost its vitamin D content. Imagine how much more nutritious a mushroom can be when it has spent its entire life outdoors over a period of multiple weeks!
Here at Ashby Fungi, we fully embrace the magical powers of the sun. All of our gourmet varieties are grown outdoors with natural day/night temperature swings encouraging a healthy fungal circadian rhythm. Our innovative greenhouse fruiting chamber is expertly designed to receive dappled sunlight while maintaining precise humidity levels. We cool our greenhouse passively with bamboo, vines, and shade cloth, and only use artificial humidification when it’s necessary. The Bay Area’s temperate climate allows us to do this year round with our rotating strain selection to match the changing seasons. The result are mushrooms which are less susceptible to disease and form large, beautiful clusters with superior nutritional value and unparalleled taste. Our mushrooms are of the highest quality which can possibly be attained by cultivation, all while reducing energy consumption and minimizing our carbon footprint! It’s a win-win-win for your taste buds, your health, and the planet.
Local food production
The wonderful concept behind farmer’s markets is allowing ordinary people to access local, seasonal food that didn’t have to travel thousands of miles to land, unappealing and wilted, in their fridge. We enjoy the privilege of taking this concept even further, producing hyper local food to sell to community members within 15 miles of our backyard farm. Although rents in Berkeley are notoriously high and space is limited, we take pride and pleasure in sharing a community with our customers. We also feel it is of upmost importance to reduce our carbon footprint, and this includes driving hundreds of miles to a “local” farmer’s market.
About Us
Meet the farmer
Amanda Janney Owner/Manager Hey! I’m Amanda. I took over the operations of Ashby Fungi in 2023. The farm was started in 2020 by Emily Hill and Boyan Xu. I have had life long love affair with mushrooms and moved to Sonoma County in 2022 to pursue the dream of operating a gourmet and medicinal mushroom farm. As fate would have it, Emily and Boyan were looking for a new owner for Ashby Fungi right at the same time. It’s an honor to carry on the tradition of a woman-owned urban farm. I love cooking with mushrooms and am very interested in the health benefits they provide for us humans. Come find me at a farmer’s market and let’s chat about all things mushrooms, low-intervention farming, hot springs, motorcycles, and punk rock!
