Story: Mushrooms and other cultivated fungi

Field mushrooms

Field mushrooms

Before cultivated mushrooms became commonly available, New Zealanders had to wait for the first autumn rains to taste fresh mushrooms. At this time field mushrooms (Agaricus campestris) sprang up in grazed paddocks and park grasslands, especially if horse or cattle manure had been present. Field mushrooms have thick, fleshy caps, 6–10 centimetres wide, on 5–8-centimetre-high stalks. Like commercial mushrooms, their gills change from pale pink to dark brown as the cap expands.

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The Hidden Forest
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How to cite this page:

Maggy Wassilieff, 'Mushrooms and other cultivated fungi - Mushroom industry', Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/photograph/16816/field-mushrooms (accessed 30 March 2024)

Story by Maggy Wassilieff, published 24 Nov 2008