2023-05-02 18:26:19
If Nicolas and Jessica Thénaisie, farmers in Alluyes (Eure-et-Loir), tell you that they are going to their chicken coop, you surely expect them to come out with a basket of eggs. Well no. Here, it will be a basket of mushrooms! The building, which offers ideal temperature and humidity for growth, has been transformed into a mushroom farm. A unique place in the department.
Since March 10, brown mushrooms, oyster mushrooms and shiitake mushrooms (from the Japanese “shii”, oak, and “take”, mushroom) have been growing silently in the 500 m² building. With 13 degrees on the thermometer, the temperature is ideal for the development of fungi. “It was already isolated so that the hens could live well. “It all started with an observation for the couple. Nicolas, who is a greengrocer, noticed that there were no French mushrooms at the Rungis market. “Very often they come from Poland. The idea germinated last year. “We visited a lot of places. We fell in love with the concept, says the forties. We are helped by Laurent Gaulthier, mushroom producer. »
From chicken coop to mushroom farm
Initially, the couple wanted to buy in the Loir-et-Cher. Too far. “Laurent told us that we could do that in an old building. » Bank. It will be a chicken coop. Some changes are made to the structure. “We painted the windows. No natural light enters the chicken coop. We also adapted the light inside and the hatches through which the hens passed were insulated. »
Three varieties are grown in three, soon to be seven, 50 m² cells. Some, with traditional techniques. “For brown mushrooms, we use horse manure. We cover the mycelium with peat and tufa, a porous white limestone stone,” explains the mushroom grower. “Superior quality guaranteed, according to the professional. The taste is present without the mushrooms being waterlogged. When cooked, fleshy mushrooms with a nutty flavor will lose “only 10 to 15% of water”. Oyster mushrooms and shiitake mushrooms, also called oak lentin, emerge from blocks of substrate made up of straw, millet and oak shavings.
“These are my babies”
Eventually, growers who want to relaunch the French mushroom hope to produce one ton per month of these “made in Beauce” eukaryotes. A picking has already been harvested and sold. A step done by hand, with gloves. ” I adore ! These are my babies,” laughs Jessica, who works a third of the week as a production worker at a company specializing in Venetian blinds. Alluyes mushrooms should soon be sold on the Wednesday market in Chartres, and later also in Auneau and Paris.
Count 6.95 euros per kilo for brown mushrooms, 12 euros for shiitake and 9 euros for oyster mushrooms. Three delicatessens market small rarities: Localie, in Gellainville, Les Vergers de Beauce, in Bonneval, at P’tit Rungis, in Châteaudun and at a market gardener in Sarthe. You can taste Jessica and Nicolas’ mushrooms at the Grand Monarque restaurant in Chartres.
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