Fresh mushrooms are packaged so they can breathe: they keep respiring after harvest, and in sealed plastic they sweat, turn slimy and spoil in a day or two. Harvest them, chill them, and pack them loosely in something that lets moisture out. A market box with a vented lid protects oyster clusters from crushing and looks good on a table. A kraft paper bag is the cheapest and breathes well, though a full bag can crush delicate clusters. A grocer takes a fiber tray under breathable film, which keeps them visible without trapping moisture. Chefs take a pound at a time in a paper bag in a cooler. Every retail pack carries the variety, the weight, your farm's name and place, and a harvest or best-by date, because oyster mushrooms keep about a week cold. In the example below, an Asheville farm prices four options: 7 to 34 cents per half pound. Below are the options, the label, the example, and a free cost calculator.
The short version
- Never seal fresh mushrooms in plastic: they sweat and spoil.
- Chill them after harvest and keep them cold to the sale.
- Markets: a box with a vented lid, which protects the clusters.
- Lowest cost: a kraft paper bag, not packed too full.
- Grocers: a fiber tray under breathable film.
- Restaurants: a 1 lb paper bag, delivered in a cooler.
- Label the variety, weight, farm and a date on every retail pack.
- TaroStack keeps each harvest's lot and date, and sells the oldest first. More below.
The options
| Option | Breathes | Protects the clusters | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Market box with vented lid | Yes | Yes | Farmers markets |
| Kraft paper bag | Yes | Less | Lowest cost, sturdy varieties |
| Fiber tray with breathable film | Yes | Yes | Grocery shelves |
| Restaurant paper bag, 1 lb | Yes | Less | Chefs, within days |
The label and the date
A retail pack of mushrooms carries the variety, the net weight, and your farm's name and place, and a harvest or best-by date tells the grocer and the cook how fresh it is; a single kind of mushroom needs no ingredient list. A grocer selling fresh vegetables labels their country of origin, which you pass on; how that works is in country of origin labeling requirements. Wild-harvested mushrooms have their own rules, often banned from cottage food sales.
An example: four options for a mushroom farm
Hilltop Greens, the made-up microgreens and mushroom farm in Asheville, North Carolina, I use in these examples, grows oyster and lion's mane mushrooms and sells about 200 half pounds a week, at markets and to restaurants:
| Option | Parts | Per half pound | 200 a week |
|---|---|---|---|
| Market box with vented lid | Box 30¢, label | $0.34 | $68.54 |
| Kraft paper bag | Bag 8¢, label | $0.12 | $23.66 |
| Fiber tray with breathable film | Tray 12¢, film, label | $0.19 | $38.06 |
| Restaurant paper bag, per half pound | Bag 10¢, label, per half pound | $0.07 | $13.87 |
Market mushrooms go in vented boxes, which are part of the $9 box's appeal; restaurants get pound bags. A grocer asking for trays would add 19 cents a half pound against the market box's 34. What the farm earns is in mushroom farm business plan, and how the microgreens are packed in how to package microgreens for sale.
Get the calculator
Download the mushroom packaging calculator. Two sheets: components, each part of each option with its pack price, units, how many a half pound uses and waste; and compare, each option's cost per half pound and per week at your volume, with notes. It's an ordinary Excel file with no macros, and it works in Google Sheets, LibreOffice and Numbers.
Where this stops working
Mushrooms keep days, flushes come in big and small, and the market box that didn't sell on Saturday is worth nothing by Wednesday. A cost sheet doesn't say which harvest is in the cooler, or how much was thrown away.
How TaroStack does it
TaroStack keeps each harvest's lot and date, and sells the oldest first.
Each harvest dated. A harvest is a batch with a lot and its harvest and best-before dates, and lot labels print for the boxes.
Oldest first. First-expired-first-out is the default, so the oldest mushrooms go out first, and a forecast shows what will expire unsold.
Losses by reason. Mushrooms thrown away are recorded as spoiled, by item, so you see how much of each harvest didn't sell.
| The job | Notebook | In TaroStack |
|---|---|---|
| The date on a box | Written by hand | From the harvest's lot |
| Which mushrooms go out first | Remembered | First-expired-first-out |
| What spoiled this week | Not recorded | Losses by reason and item |
Lots, expiry, recipes and batches are on every plan, from $49 a month. The first 30 days are free, with no credit card. If you'd like a hand setting up, ask, and we'll do it with you.