AYRSHIRE’S FUN-GI
Gill Sherry
“I’ve always wanted to do something that’s not normal.”
Gordon Munro follows this statement with a laugh, and I can’t help but join in as I take in the unusual surroundings. A collection of pink, yellow and grey mushrooms sits in a glass cabinet, beside which hangs a number of pristine guitars.
“I’m not very good at the 9 to 5 working in an office. I’ve always known that’s not what I’m here for.”
So what exactly is Gordon Munro here for?
“I found a mushroom one day at the church… a big parasol mushroom. It must have been the size of a frying pan. I picked it and brought it home. It took about an hour to work out what it was. I thought it was amazing that you could find things that size that you can eat, right on your doorstep. And I thought, what an amazing job if I could do that.”
Gordon grew up in Kirkoswald, South Ayrshire before attending Strathclyde University in Glasgow to study biochemistry. He then enjoyed six years in the hospitality industry, four of which were spent running the Dunure Inn with this mother.
“We did music nights there,” he tells me, “and I was a musician for years after that.”
Hence the guitars.
But finding that mushroom changed things for Gordon. He developed an appetite for foraging and began extensive research into fungi. This led to him selling locally sourced mushrooms for the next five years before setting up Fungi Organic Ltd in January 2021.
“We started by selling growing kits on line.”
These grow-your-own mushroom kits are ideal for a quick flush of home-grown mushrooms. I’ve never seen one before so he shows me how they work. It looks more like a flower arrangement than a bag of fungi, and I can understand why they were so popular during Covid. So popular, in fact, that he was able to invest the money made from sales into the new company.
“We’ve no packaging facility here yet,” he explains, “so it’s all face-to-face, local delivery or collection, farmers markets, and a few restaurants.”
Gordon currently provides locally foraged, seasonal mushrooms to Souter’s Inn, The Kirkmichael Arms, and Pizzaioli in Ayr and hopes this list of hostelries will soon expand. In the meantime, his planned foraging tours should keep him busy. Tours cost from £50 per person for a four-hour foraging experience.
“I give them a reference book. That’s what it’s all about… trying to find something in your book. I’ll show them the mushrooms and explain how to identify them. Then we pick them because everyone wants to take some home.”
I’ve seen too many episodes of Countryfile to know that foragers will also expect Gordon to rustle something up!
“We do a wee cook-up at the end,” he concedes. “Barbequing is quite good for a mushroom. Just add oil and some garlic butter.”
My mouth is watering at the thought, although, I don’t mind admitting, I’d be somewhat cautious about what I actually picked.
“Oysters are the easiest ones to grow but not always easy to identify in the wild,” he tells me. “Foraging wise, there’s one that will grow in soft wood that looks like an oyster… that’s called Angel’s Wings and that’s poisonous. The whole foraging thing, you really need to know your stuff.”
Gordon admits that every day is a school day and that he’s still learning. However, he now has the self-confidence to realise that when it comes to mushrooms, he does indeed know his stuff.
“I didn’t eat anything that I picked for two and a half years! I feel like I know what I’m doing now, but it took me a long time to get to that stage.”
Knowing what he does, I presume he would advise novice foragers to think twice before picking (and eating) a mushroom?
“If you don’t know what it is, just leave it. You have to be 100%… and you need to know your trees. There are yew trees in every graveyard and anything that grows on a yew tree or around it, is poisonous. Every part of a yew tree is poisonous. So if anything’s growing on that, you don’t eat it. We found a parasol mushroom growing right next to a yew tree. But rule number one is, if it’s anywhere near a yew tree leave it, even if it’s really rare and precious.”
Talking of rare and precious, he tells me of a local chaga mushroom.
“Oysters will grow and rot and maybe come back next year. Others just keep growing and growing and just get bigger. There’s one locally that’s super rare, a chaga. It’s medicinal and I reckon it’s worth about £750.”
And he hasn’t picked it?
“You don’t pick it,” he says. “It’s too high up a tree!”
He shows me a photograph on his phone. It looks like a lump of coal. I certainly wouldn’t think you could eat it. Mind you, I’d say the same about the colourful oysters sitting beside me in the cabinet!
I ask Gordon if he has a favourite mushroom.
“Hen of the woods,” he answers. “It looks like feathers. It’s a natural flavour enhancer. You can also get chicken of the woods which is orange and grows on hardwood trees… it’s got the taste and texture of chicken. But I don’t really like mushrooms.”
Sorry… what?
“It’s a standing joke, but I’m getting there. I didn’t like the texture as a child, that’s why I like barbequing them or deep frying them in batter, so they’re crispy but chewy.”
A mushroom producer that doesn’t like mushrooms? At least he won’t be eating away the profits. And I suppose you don’t have to like mushrooms to enjoy growing them. It’s clear Gordon is passionate about fungi and its associated benefits. And he physically lights up when he talks about that very first parasol…
“That was the first time I’d ever seen a mushroom that I cared about.”
He’s equally enthusiastic when he tells me of a rare find in spring last year.
“We found some rare mushrooms… and Souter’s made ice-cream out of them. Everyone that’s tried that ice-cream says it’s the best ice-cream they’ve ever had. They dehydrated them, then rehydrated them in sherry. It’s like a rum and raisin type ice-cream… very unique.”
Apparently, you can also make tea from mushrooms – who knew? And the ones sitting beside me in all their pastel glory, look cleaner than anything you’ll find in the shops.
“We clean them twice… air compressor first, then brushes, it’s very artisan and hands-on. It’s like flower arranging. The restaurants that we sell to love it, they’ve never seen cleaner mushrooms!”
It’s been fun chatting to Gordon and hearing all about his plans for Fungi Organic Ltd. If you’re ever out in the Ayrshire countryside, you might get to meet him yourself. That said, you’ll probably hear him before you see him.
“I do get excited when I spot something. You’ll hear me shout, Yeah!”
For more information or to book a foraging experience, visit www.fungi.organic
