A Fort Worth startup is placing mushrooms on the plate at a few of the space’s most attention-grabbing eating places. Called Black Cat Culinary Mushrooms, it is a grower and provider of mushrooms, available in Dallas-Fort Worth to each cooks and foodies alike.
Black Cat Mushrooms was based in 2020 as a enjoyable undertaking by John Zaskoda and his son.
Zaskoda, whose day job is manufacturing supervisor for Billy Bob’s in Fort Worth, would give the mushrooms he grew to chef pals, and it rapidly grew from pastime right into a full-fledged business, servicing eating places equivalent to Tokyo Cafe, Eazy Monkey (the brand new restaurant from chef Andrew Dilda), Hao’s Grocery & Cafe, and garden-to-table favourite Heirloom.
The startup is now absolutely owned and operated by Zaskoda (whose son is 17 now and “too cool” for mushrooms, Zaskoda says) out of a storefront at 2808 Shamrock Ave. #108, the place he grows, shops, and sells mushrooms.
Zaskoda attributes his success to the supportive neighborhood of cooks who’re taken with what he grows on a weekly foundation.
He grows as much as 20 varieties, notably connoisseur choices equivalent to oyster, lion’s mane, chestnut, and shiitake, producing a distinct variety of mushrooms each week. He retains a subscriber record ([email protected]) and sends out a weekly update with data on what varieties are available to buy that week.
His store additionally sells gear if you wish to develop your personal together with ready-to-grow kits, sterilized baggage, and grain spawns.
You don’t should be a gardener to develop mushrooms at home. The course of that Black Cat makes use of at their storefront is identical that anybody with a equipment may use: Mushrooms are grown in small batches in a room that receives central air, at a super temperature of 55 to 60 levels Fahrenheit, however is not overblown. You want a cool place to place the spawn, warmth to hurry up the method, and soil to place over the spawn as soon as it’s in position.
Avoiding moisture buildup is vital, because it ensures an opportunity for molding. This course of yields a mattress of mushrooms able to be molded.
But having the ability to purchase them grown in such a range is a plus, whether or not you are a restaurant chef or adventurous home prepare dinner.
The store’s hours are Sunday-Tuesday, with Mondays and Tuesdays are designated for Chef pick-ups.
Mushrooms have loved a giant growth in reputation, fueled by the pandemic.
Mushrooms are additionally a giant favourite amongst vegan cooks who capitalize on their hearty, meat-like texture, utilizing them as a stand-in in recipes for hen and beef. They’re additionally thought to have large well being advantages in areas like averting most cancers, encouraging wholesome micro organism, and supporting the immune system.
Zaskoda, who’s additionally a former touring guitarist with Fort Worth band Dirty Pool, describes his ardour for rising mushrooms, saying, “I do not simply develop mushrooms as a result of they’re scrumptious, I develop them as a result of they’re artwork.”
“Chefs get to take it and make artwork from it, I’m giving them their clay,” he says.
