Eight mushrooms, one mushroom capital.
Pennsylvania grows more mushrooms than anywhere else in the country — and not just the button mushrooms you know from the grocery store. Here's what's actually coming out of Chester County's growing rooms, what each one tastes like, and what to do with it.
The mushroom most people grew up on — and the one Kennett Square built its whole industry around. Mild, tender, and endlessly versatile.
The same species as a button mushroom, just picked a little older and browner — which gives it a noticeably deeper, more savory flavor.
Let a cremini keep growing and it becomes a portobello — a wide, meaty cap that's become the go-to vegetarian stand-in for steak.
A specialty variety grown across several Chester County farms, prized for the deep umami flavor it brings to broths and stir-fries.
Fan-shaped clusters with a subtle, almost sweet flavor. One of the easier specialty mushrooms to fall in love with.
Shaggy, white, and almost unrecognizable as a mushroom at first glance — but sear it and the texture turns strikingly close to crab or lobster.
Grows in large, ruffled clusters that look almost like a bouquet. The frilly edges crisp up beautifully when roasted or pan-fried.
Recognizable by its thick, dense stem — sliced into rounds and seared, it develops a texture strikingly close to a scallop.
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