Offaly mushroom farm to feature on RTE next week

An Offaly farming family who are growing an impressive range of exotic mushrooms are set to feature on the second series of RTE One's horticulture show, Home Grown, on Wednesday night next, March 6.

Garryhinch Wood Exotic Mushrooms is run by Joe and Dolores Gorman on their organic family farm at Garryhinch, just outside Portarlington. Having been supplying mushrooms to the retail and food services sector, and to farmers markets across the country for over 30 years, the Gormans are now growing a huge range of exotic mushrooms.

The wild exotic mushrooms are cultivated on wooden blocks made from trees sourced from sustainable managed forests. The mushrooms have a high nutritional value, and also help in lowering cholesterol, fighting infection and building the immune system.

Among the wild mushroom varieties grown on the Garryhinch farm of the Gorman family are shiitake, pink oyster, king oyster, maitake, white beech, lion's mane and forest nameko.

While mushrooms are one of Ireland's biggest export successes, the cultivation of wild exotic mushrooms is a much more complicated and intricate process and next week's episode of Home Grown will focus on the cultivation process and explore the growing homegrown market for the more exotic varieties of mushrooms being produced at Garryhinch Wood Exotic.

Home Grown, which showcases Irish horticulture and explores the increasing interest in growing fruit and vegetables, airs on RTE One every Wednesday night at 8.30pm, with next week's episode – March 6 - featuring a segment on Garryhinch Wood Exotic Mushroom farm.