Mushrooms are an essential ingredient in preparations like mushroom soup (top) , (belw left) pizza and (below right) noodles

Mushrooms are an indispensable ingredient in any cuisine, be it Chinese, Continental, or even Indian for that matter. Mushroom Matar Paneer or a Mushroom Kadai are as ubiquitous in a restaurant as Mushroom Soup or a Chilli Mushroom. And not just restaurants, the fungus is now a staple in every Calcuttan’s kitchen, not just for its taste but also because of its rich food value.

While the white button mushroom peeks out of every dish, it is absent from most of the markets of Calcutta. Most people do not have access to this vegetable except in some big markets in Calcutta. To bring about a change in this supply-demand deficiency, a research on mushroom cultivation has been started by one Ashok Pal, a mushroom farmer who lives in a non-descript village of Howrah’s Udaynarayanpur. Pal, who took part in a national mushroom festival held in Himachal Pradesh’s Solan district in September 2011, was acknowledged by the Directorate of Mushroom Research, Himachal Pradesh under Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), as one of the best five mushroom cultivators in the country. Pal was granted a loan of Rs 14,35,500 by the state Horticulture Department to continue his research on mushrooms.

“Ashok is trying to grow button mushrooms in his farm in Udaynarayanpur during winter. This kind of mushroom can only be grown in North Bengal’s Kalimpong and Kurseong. But Ashok, with his tenacity and dedication, might just be successful in growing them here,” said Kushadhag Bag, director, District Horticulture department. He said that the research would ultimately benefit the people. In south Bengal, mainly oyster and milky mushrooms grow. But it is for the first time in Howrah, that Pal is trying to grow button mushrooms. “Button mushrooms are very delicious and have rich food value. But they can be grown only between 12 and 22 degrees centigrade. In West Bengal, temperature varies between 13 and 22 degrees from beginning to end of winter. It takes two months to harvest button mushrooms that includes the time of composting,” said Pal.

Pal has a small laboratory and research centre in his mushroom farm where scores of youth come every day to learn mushroom farming to eke out a living. Besides, Pal has employed 20 young salesmen, who deliver packets of oyster mushrooms to different households, hotels and food joints in Howrah, Hooghly and in Calcutta.

In the laboratory, there is an autoclave through which mushroom spawns are freed of virus, an incubator in which the master culture is preserved and a dryer through which the mushrooms are dried. “I have stopped drying mushrooms. Dry mushrooms can be preserved and used for a year. But customers here are not willing to buy dry mushrooms as the colour turns black,” said Pal.

People of this state completely depend on North Bengal, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Haryana and other states where winter is prolonged for supply of button mushrooms. Now if Pal is able to grow button mushrooms in his farm, the state will produce its own mushrooms.

“Oyster mushrooms are grown between 18 to 30 degrees temperature and milky mushrooms can be grown between 30 to 40 degrees temperatures. I usually grow these two types of mushrooms. I am also trying to grow them throughout the year. But for the first time I am trying to grow button mushrooms because the demand is high and the price is also good,” said Pal.

Racks of packets filled with the compost prepared for cultivating mushrooms at Ashok Pal’s farm at Udaynarayanpur and (below) Ashok Pal with a compost from which oyster mushrooms have started growing

He said that if winter is prolonged the harvest is high from a single bed. A special kind of compost using pieces of straw and chicken litter is made for growing button mushrooms. Different types of compost are needed for growing different kinds of mushrooms. While only sterilized straw pieces are needed to grow oyster mushrooms, pieces of straw, wood dust, wheat fibre and a layer of earth are needed for milky mushrooms. “The main compost for button mushroom is made using straw and chicken litter. These two raw materials are available cheap in south Bengal as there are a large number of poultry farms here and paddy is grown in most agricultural land. On the contrary, these raw materials are costly in North Bengal and other mushroom-growing states. So we can grow button mushrooms at cheap rate too,” said Pal. During his stay at Himachal Pradesh for the mushroom festival, Pal met Dr Kunal Mondal, who was principal scientist at ICAR and requested him to help him grow new types of mushrooms in his farm all over the year.

“Button mushroom is generally grown in hilly areas where winter is prolonged. In south Bengal, winter is barely for one-and-half months. If a mushroom-grower has training and works hard he can grow button mushrooms in his farm. In such a situation people can get fresh mushrooms at a cheap rate,” said Dr Kunal Mondal.

Mondal, who is now working as principal scientist, Central Research Institute for Jute and Allied Fibres, visited Pal’s mushroom farm several times to monitor the growth of the mushrooms. “Ashok does not have training in growing button mushrooms. I am teaching him how to grow them. But he has infrastructure and tenacity. I hope he will ultimately succeed in growing this particular type of mushroom that will open a new possibility in mushroom farming in south Bengal,” said Mondal. Ashok, a higher secondary pass out from a local school in Udaynarayanpur, developed interest in mushroom cultivation since his school days and after he grew up he decided to grow and experiment with mushrooms. “My elder brother Deb Sankar Pal was an agriculture student at Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya, Nadia. He used to bring mushroom culture from there and grow them in our house. I curiously monitored every step of growth and developed a love for this particular fungus,” said Pal. His elder brother, however, is now an employee of LIC.