Making magic with button mushrooms

Marietjie Kruger of Heidelberg grows and sells fresh mushrooms and processed food in Gauteng. She spoke to Annelie Coleman about the complex growing process that is required before harvesting.

- Annelie Coleman

Marietjie Kruger is passionate about fungi, and one species of fungi in particular, namely Agaricus bisporus, commonly known as the button mushroom. Kruger, owner of Chanmar's Humble Mushrooms near Heidelberg in Gauteng, describes mushrooms as one of the wonders of the world.

"All mushrooms are fungi, but not all fungi are mushrooms. A. bisporus is, for us humans, an important part of the edible mushroom family. It belongs to the division Basidiomycota of the kingdom Fungi, and is the familiar white mushroom found in supermarkets," she explains.

After starting to grow mushrooms in Limpopo's Waterberg region in 2003, Kruger moved her production operation to Heidelberg in 2015. The business is named after her daughters Chantell and Marlize, whom she describes as her "pillars of strength".

Button mushrooms comprise 80% of her crop and brown mushrooms make up the rest. She sells the fresh, prepacked mushrooms in Gauteng, with 25% to 30% of production earmarked for the catering industry. In 2007, Kruger also branched out into the condiment and preserve market with a range of bottled products, including mushroom chutney, atchar and preserved garlic and mushrooms.

QUALITY COMPOST ESSENTIAL

The basis of successful mushroom production is top-quality compost, and this comes from top-quality straw, says Kruger. Producing compost takes about five weeks. She uses irrigated wheat straw, because of the flexibility of its stalks and its capacity to retain moisture. The straw, mixed with chicken litter and gypsum, forms the basis of her compost production process.