There’s nothing quite like heading into the woods to forage for mushrooms—taking in the fresh air, enjoying the beauty of nature, and coming home with a basket full of treasures. However, gathering a large quantity of mushrooms can be a painstaking and challenging task.
But what if we could create specialized mushroom farms? Well, we did create them—both here and in other countries. Until recently, though, the only mushrooms cultivated in artificial conditions, sometimes even underground in basements or abandoned mines, were button mushrooms.
Growing prized porcini mushrooms—known in some places as boroviks—outside the forest has long been elusive. That changed recently, when Professor Karpinski of the Forest Research Institute in Warsaw discovered how to cultivate them. He managed to grow whole clusters of small boroviks in test tubes.
This breakthrough by Polish biologists is a big deal. Soon, mushroom enthusiasts in many countries will be able to purchase specially cultivated boroviks that are indistinguishable from their wild counterparts.
