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Fancy fungus among us GARRONE FAMILY’S FAR WEST FUNGI BRINGS ORGANIC SPECIALTY MUSHROOMS TO FARMERS MARKETS By Bryce Druzin
M
VERONICA WEBER
Far West Fungi offers a colorful array of mushrooms, such as (from left) yellow and pink tree oyster, shimeji and shiitake.
ost companies would avoid describing their products as ugly. But Far West Fungi has some fun with its sometimes alien-looking products, selling “ugly shiitake baskets� filled with misshapen mushrooms at farmers markets across the Bay Area. “They’re not perfectly formed, but they’re so delicious,� said John Perez, who comes every other week to the Mountain View market to pick up an “ugly� basket. Toby Garrone, who owns Far West Fungi with her husband John, said, “People always laugh and say: ‘Well, I don’t really care what they look like. They taste the
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same, right?’� The Garrones have been the sole owners of Far West Fungi since 2004, and grow their organic mushrooms in Moss Landing in Monterey County. Besides offering shiitake, Far West grows and sells bulbous large-stemmed king trumpets, delicate and ghostly tree oysters, maitakes resembling miniature coral reefs, and other varieties. The company has stands at 16 farmers markets, including the Saturday Palo Alto and Sunday Mountain View and Menlo Park markets. They also sell nonorganic “agaricus� varieties such as white and brown buttons from Global Mushrooms in Gilroy. “We carry them because they’re such the standard mushroom,� said Robbie Desanto, who works at Far West’s stand at farmers markets and the company store in San Francisco. Desanto said he’s witnessed customers purchase the more common mushrooms for years before trying the more exotic varieties. “It’s that initial getting away from the ‘regular’ mushrooms that scares people at first.� At a recent Sunday market in Mountain View, Desanto sold mushrooms, answered questions and handed out recipe ideas along with co-workers Hope Moseley and Merl Sabado. When a customer asked Sabado what to do with yellow oysters, she recommended dropping them in a soup. “But towards the end. Don’t let them sit too long,� said Sabado, who has worked with the Garrones for over 25 years. Sauteeing mushrooms with vegetables or using them in omelettes are common customer uses for their fungi. But Caitlin Eanes said she had a more elaborate dish in mind for her mushrooms: chestnut pappardelle in a brown butter sauce with English peas. “I’m using maitake, but black trumpet would have been better,� she said. Back at the Moss Landing farm, Toby Garrone said risotto is “always good with mushrooms� and likes to use a combination of shiitake, oyster and king trumpet.