A photo tour of a space-age mushroom laboratory
Enviro Mushroom Farming's high-tech facility in Burlington, Ontario grows and packs exotic mushrooms for consumers
Enviro Mushroom Farming Inc. President Ben (Yun Joon) Park holds a plastic bottle of growing Cinnamon Cap mushrooms in the high tech Burlington facility during a tour.PETER POWER/The Globe and Mail
Ben (Yun Joon) Park is blasted inside an air shower as part of the decontamination process required before entering the sterile positive air pressure areas the facility.PETER POWER/The Globe and Mail
A technician uses a torch to sterilize the cotton cap on a flask of liquid mushroom spores before adding it to the mixture that will be used to inoculate each plastic bottle of substrate.PETER POWER/The Globe and Mail
A technician pours a flask of liquid mushroom spores into a mixture that will be used to inoculate each plastic bottle of substrate.PETER POWER/The Globe and Mail
Ben (Yun Joon) Park checks out stacks of jars of substrate infused with mushroom mycelium in the incubation room. Specific environmental conditions are maintained while the jars incubate in the dark for 25-35 days.PETER POWER/The Globe and Mail
Ben (Yun Joon) Park shows a before, left, and after of jars of substrate when they come out of incubation and the initial inoculum is removed from the top of the fully colonized substrate.PETER POWER/The Globe and Mail
Enoki mushrooms grow out of organic substrate in their plastic bottle homes within the facility. Enoki mushrooms grow in the coolest environment of the facility at a mere four degrees Celsius.PETER POWER/The Globe and Mail
King Oyster mushrooms grow out of organic substrate in their plastic bottles.PETER POWER/The Globe and Mail
Employees cut the stems of king oyster mushrooms before they are weighed and packaged at the facility.PETER POWER/The Globe and Mail
Cinnamon Cap mushrooms grow out of organic substrate in their plastic bottle homes.PETER POWER/The Globe and Mail
In the final step before delivery, employees stick labels to packages of king oyster mushrooms.PETER POWER/The Globe and Mail
Ben (Yun Joon) Park holds a package of king oyster mushrooms ready for delivery.PETER POWER/The Globe and Mail