Morel mushrooms – in northern Michigan this is a May-June delicacy, family tradition, and all sorts of foragers from professional to amateur come out to find that spot for even just a few to cook up.
The industry of morel mushrooms is anything but small and is known around the world. Total industry foraged is in the tens of billions worldwide and just in the US alone a few billion dollars generated.
Morels represent an untapped market in commodities left up to foragers. In the midwest professional foragers can earn an entire years wage in just a few months following the harvests upwards through the states. They sell their harvests over to middle men who then sell that a store, distributor, and so on. Each time the morel passes hands it’s doubling or tripling its price.
Fresh morels can fetch up to $65-$75 a pound. I personally looked into pricing late into the season to get an idea of how high the price can go once supply begins to go down.
Cultivating the morel would be the epitome of discoveries.
And here at Midnight Harvest – that’s just what we’ve done.
After working on morels for years in the lab we’ve now been able to grow tiny morels indoors, every week, since March 2020. Through continued testing we have begun to learn more and more how to adapt this mushroom the lab settings, innovating growing methods, and eventually leading up to the full understanding of the morel needs and requirements to be cultivated indoors.
This test was just completed in early February 2021. We saw dozens of morels pin up and show amazing structure and color. This sample is conducted in a small 500ml container and total media size is about 1/3 cup. Giving us hope for what is come when we switch a media 50 times greater. It’ll take a few weeks for the process to occur as the mycelium grows and finalizes itself in larger trials, but we’re up for the challenge.
We’ll be unlocking one of natures greatest treasures and selling fresh morel mushrooms year round. Soon after we’ll be applying our science to other morels and diversify our morel options.
Bigger dreams lay ahead but for now we hope to report back soon with a store where you can purchase morels all year anytime.
Head to our Instagram and see more morel photos we put up during our research.
