Week 2. History of mushrooms

Hippocrates first mentioned mushrooms medicinal value in 400 B.C. The first mention of mushroom cultivation, distinct from a chance of appearance in the field was in l652. The first record of year-round commercial production was in l780. When a French gardener began to cultivate mushrooms in the underground quarries near Paris. Gardeners introduced mushroom growing to North America by using dark areas underneath greenhouse benches to grow mushrooms. In 1894 the first structure specifically designed to grow mushroom was built in Chester County, Pennsylvania, which is usually referred to as the mushroom capital of the world (Lo and Wasser 2011). Since ancient times, mushrooms have been regarded as the ‘Food of the Gods’. The Pharaohs of ancient Egypt believed they had magical powers, while the Chinese used them for their health-giving properties (Chu et al. 2002).

Mushroom was first cultivated in India in 1940, however, its systematic cultivation was first attempted in 1943. Department of Agriculture, Solan, Himachal Pradesh, started the work on a small scale to grow mushrooms. In India, commercial cultivation of mushrooms had been with the joint effort of scientists and farmers (Chang and Miles 2004). Annual mushroom production has increased to 80,000 ton in 2006 from a mere 1,000 ton in 1981. Fifty percent of this is produced by marginal and small production units and the rest by industrial establishments. Mushroom husbandary is now one of the major sources of income for farmers of many states like Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand , Himanchal Pradesh and Tamilnadu (Ekonem and Ubengama 2002).

“Without Leaves, without buds, without flowers,

Yet they form fruit.”

“As food, as a tonic and as a medicine,

Mushrooms are wonderful are creations of nature.” (Chang and Miles 2004).

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