Yet there are still a number of common misconceptions about them. The first is what a mushroom actually is in fact, it's the fruit body of a fungus. And, ignoring all jokes about how to grow mushrooms, the compost in which they are grown actually comes from local racing stables, riding stables or farms and is pasteurised to become sweet-smelling, inert and a natural medium for the growing fruit bodies. Changes in temperature and moisture control made by the growers, mean that we are now able to eat mushrooms throughout the year. Each crop takes about six weeks to grow and mature, when they are then ready for picking - always by hand.
Most mushroom farms grow the white cap mushroom.
Another fallacy is that the four different sizes of the white caps are actually distinct kinds of mushrooms. In fact, they're all the same sort, just at different stages of growth. The mushroom doubles in size every 24 hours, so over a period of a week, the tiny button mushroom will develop into a closed cup mushroom, then to a larger open cup mushroom with gills visible, and finally increase even more to become a large open or flat mushroom. As the size increases, the full mature flavour develops. The chestnut or brown cap mushroom is grown like the white version but the strain is slightly different, producing a mushroom with a brown outer skin.