Shiitake Grown Year-Round in Special Incubator in Jelgava Municipality
Jānis Volksons, owner of the "Trubenieki" farm in Lielplatone parish, grows exotic shiitake mushrooms all year round and has adopted strict hygiene after costly mistakes. His family has been growing shiitake for about four decades.
At the "Trubenieki" farm in Lielplatone parish, Jelgava municipality, shiitake mushrooms grow all year round. These exotic edible mushrooms are cultivated in a special incubator, and the owner, Jānis Volksons, says he relies on science, experiments and even a special water shock that "wakes up" the mushrooms. He arrived at his method after costly mistakes and with guidance from Japanese masters. The farm is described by Pārsla Konrāde, a journalist at the regional newspaper "Dzirkstele".
An incubator kept apart
Volksons explains that mushrooms are not actually grown at "Trubenieki" itself, which hosts tourists. The incubator is three kilometres away, where the mushrooms grow throughout the winter or the whole year. For visitors, he specially brings logs with mushrooms from the incubator.
This arrangement followed an unpleasant experience. Ten years ago tourists were received at the growing facility itself, but the mushrooms caught an infection. It destroyed a large batch, disinfection took two months, and a great deal of wood had to be burned. Since then nobody has been allowed inside, and the farm itself observes very strict hygiene.
Roots in a family experiment
Volksons recalls that about 40 years ago Latvia had a shiitake boom. His parents inoculated ten small logs to try the mushrooms for themselves. Shiitake only fruit in the third year after planting, and the first mushrooms appeared after three years.
His parents then fed Volksons and his brothers the mushrooms every summer, preparing them in many ways: soups, cutlets, sauces and even sweet dishes. The children did not like the taste at first, but over the ten years the logs yielded mushrooms, they became fond of them.
