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Savour Winter

Here we profile Lindsay’s Shiitakes and Gredig’s Orchard. The recipes that compliment this article – Asian Mushroom Turkey Loaf and Apple Cake – can be found in the recipe section below, along with several other seasonal dishes.







A growing number of cooking enthusiasts are incorporating the unique flavours and textures of mushroom varieties beyond the familiar white buttons into their dishes. Shiitakes, for example, add a smoky, nutty flavour and meaty texture that has been popular in Japan for centuries. They are now grown locally at Lindsay’s Shiitakes.

Five years ago, the Lindsays (father Alvin, son Carl and Carl’s wife Judy) started growing shiitake mushrooms as a transition from tobacco farming. Shiitakes, they decided, would work well on their farm and provide an alternative to the types of mushrooms already grown locally.

Mushroom cultivation is quite different from growing plants, but the Lindays found that, as with any farming, an understanding of the science is a key to success. Mushroom growing requires the correct combination of humidity, temperature, growth medium and starter culture and each variety has its own specific needs. Carl has enthusiastically taken on the task of learning the science of Shiitake cultivation, and of ensuring that the lab work is done with the necessary precision.

Mushroom growing can occur through wild harvest, outdoor log inoculation or, more commonly nowadays, indoors. While white mushrooms are usually cultivated on trays, indoor Shitake mushroom cultivation is most often in bags.

Visitors to the Lindsays' farm (south of Aylmer) on the 2009 Elgin Federation of Agriculture Farm Tour were intrigued by the details of Shiitake production. Carl and Alvin led visitors through the process: bags of the growing medium (red oak sawdust and the Lindsays' own rye) are sterilized in an autoclave; mycelial culture is introduced in a sterile environment in the lab; sealed bags are moved to the warm growing room for up to 60 days until a block takes shape. The bags are then cut off and the blocks undergo a cold shock and high humidity which initiates “fruiting” and production of mushrooms in three to four days.

Six to seven hundred blocks are started into the process each week. Each yields between two and three pounds of mushrooms – picking these is Judy’s specialty. As part of the farm conversion, old stainless steel-lined shipping containers were turned into the growing and fruiting rooms.

Lindsay’s Shitakes are sold locally at Briwood and St. Thomas Horton Market, as well as to markets, restaurants and wholesale buyers. Though shiitakes are delicious in many dishes, including pastas and stir-fries, one of Judy’s favourites is simply to sauté them in oil with a little chopped garlic.



Photos (left to right):  Alvin during the EFA Farm Tour; the autoclave, where the shiitake growing medium is sterilized; Carl and Judy show off blocks of shiitakes during the EFA Farm Tour.

Shiitake Facts



Elgin County is within the apple-growing region that stretches in a band along the north side of Lakes Ontario and Erie. The soils, moderate temperatures and warm sunny days with cool nights provide perfect conditions for growing an abundance of apples.

Gredig's Orchard grows many apple varieties and also makes apple cider that has become, for a growing number of fans, a favourite taste of the season.

Tammy (pictured above, right) operates, with her dad Albert, the 10-acre orchard that was started by her parents in 1980. Gredig’s apples are marketed through several local stores and from the St. Thomas Horton Market in late summer and fall.

During apple cider production, apples are washed, ground in a hammer mill, pressed in a “Good Nature Squeeze Box”, filtered, UV treated and bottled in a process that uses several specialized pieces of equipment and requires careful record-keeping. Gredig’s apple cider reached a new level of excellence when they switched from heat pasteurization to UV treatment in 2007. Tammy says that the cider has gradually become a more important part of their business, with production of well over 30,000 litres per year.

Tammy attributes their cider’s wonderful fresh taste to several factors – only washed, hand-picked, fully ripe apples are used. Also, she has developed a knack for combining varieties to give a nicely balanced mix of sweet and tart flavours. Each batch throughout the season is a little different than the others.

Gredig’s cider is also collecting accolades from amateur wine makers. A group in Port Stanley has won several awards using it to make sparkling hard cider. “This has been a bit of a surprise marketing opportunity,” says Tammy. They now get calls from winemakers in London, Kitchener, Niagara Falls and other centres.

Tammy speaks with admiration and appreciation for her father who turns 80 this year. Says Tammy, “We are a great team!” That applies to both the orchard operation and to the household where Albert can often be found helping amidst the bustle of raising three children. The Gredigs have also benefited from their association with a local family who has worked with them in the orchard for the past three years.

Tammy feels strongly that farming, for her, is a lifestyle and family commitment. It’s not without difficulties or the occasional thought of quitting. Overall, though, she is heartened by the movement to local and the potential opportunities ahead. She feels that many stores miss out on chances to market locally grown products as their operations are restricted by controls from head office. She is hopeful that the public will continue to support agriculture – and to express their desire for availability of local product. She believes that food grown nearby results in healthier, happier people – both growers and consumers.

Gredig’s Orchard is located at 45976 Ron McNeil Line, St. Thomas. They can be contacted at 519.633.8885.

What's Your Apple Type?

Ontario Apple Growers supply all sorts of useful apple tips and recipes, as well as Applescopes, their collaboration with an astrologer and nutritionist designed to help you decide which variety best suits you. The McIntosh, they reveal, is the Aquarian among apples – juicy and mildly tart, but like loyal Aquarius, they sweeten over time. Find your apple type at www.onapples.com. Here are their suggestions for best uses of different apple varieties: