Beauty and Brainpower--Mushroom Power

Lion's Mane and more. It's the new trend in vegan and vegetarian cooking, but there's so much more to this mushroom than headlining trendy restaurant dishes for a while. Lion's mane along with its cousins oyster and shiitake, are remarkable, especially as nutraceuticals. Huh? 

The balerina-like pink oyster mushroom loaded with antioxidants.

Nutraceuticals are not new, but the concept is new to our Western mindset. Nutrition is something that we understand, but when we follow scientists, farmers and dieticians in their quest to amplify our nutrition through food, it's time to do a little easy research and ask questions. That's what Shane Fleeman did. And then he decided to grow a business full of flavor and nutrition.

LISTEN TO SHANE TELL HIS STORY

From business to farming. Shane left the corporate world after a 30-year career to develop an idea that had been brewing. Established in 2023, Fresh Harvest Farms is the result of his dream to find something good and sustainable that he could give back to his community, the areas in and around Dahlonega, Georgia. Focusing on nutrient-dense mushrooms and microgreens, Fresh Harvest Farms sells dehydrated oyster mushrooms online, along with Lion's Mane and microgreens powders (to add to to soups, stews, hot beverages or smoothies). You can shop online at www.freshharvestfarm.com or at most of the Dahlonega area farmer's markets. If you shop ahead, you can pick up all of the microgreens and mushrooms fresh off the farm. Contact them at shane@freshharvestfarm.com or call 770-589-2299 to place your order.

Pink oyster mushrooms coming to life.

Growing a new business of his own, Shane, with the help of his wife, Audra, and partners, Dan & Lauren Draper, built a state-of-the-art shipping container facility to grow his mushroom-growing business. "I wanted to do something good for my community," he said, and so he added a building to house the other side of his organic endeavor, microgreens farming. Essentially, all of the nutrition of a head of broccoli sits in one shoot or sprig. So, eating microgreens is like eating a head of broccoli, but don't take my word for it. Take a look at recent research, which claims that it may be as much as 4% to 20% more! Mind-blowing, indeed! 

You can add nutrition to any salad by mixing in microgreens

The Lion's Mane mushroom is not just another pretty face. Somewhat like a shaggy version of the paleolithic artifact, the Venus of Willendorf,  it's loaded with healing properties said to assist in improving brain function and managing blood sugar, among others. If you'd like to know more, Shane has links to numerous studies here. Dewey and I use the powder in our coffee every morning, so that is easy enough, but cooking Lion's Mane was a bit more challenging for me. Online, I found chefs using it in place of a ribeye steak or barbequed pork. I developed a very satisfying recipe, Lion's Mane and Pasta in Vodka Sauce. It uses good store-bought Marinara like Rao's, and comes together pretty quickly. Here's the recipe.

Lion's Mane is not earthy like most of the brown mushrooms. The flavor profile is a little more delicate and, according to many, somewhat similar to lobster or scallops, making it an excellent substitute with mind-enhancing benefits. It can be sliced into thick slabs for grilling, roasting and pan-frying, or shredded (raw) to use in sauteeing or as a substitute for pulled pork. It has a higher water content, so most online recipes require cutting it into big slabs and cooking in a cast iron pan while pushing down with another pan to remove the excess moisture. For my recipe, I sliced it into slabs, pan-fried in olive oil and then cut into large chunks to add to the pasta and sauce.

Soba Noodle Mushroom Salad & Microgreens

The MEGA benefits of MICROgreens. Future blog posts will include a shrimp and gray oyster pasta recipe, one for Pink Oyster Mushroom Cutlets, and ways to incorporate more microgreens into your daily cooking. Today, you can try my ever-so-easy recipe for an Asian-inspired Soba Noodle Mushroom Salad & Microgreens. Buying oyster mushrooms dehydrated means that you've always got antioxidant-rich nutrition in your pantry at all times.

Nutrition Power Bowl: Black Beans topped with sliced lettuce,
Radicchio, chopped red onion and true Feta (made from sheep and goat milk)
If you don't like Feta, use goat cheese. Everything is topped with
nutrition-filled microgreens.

Adding a cup of microgreens to the mushroom noodle salad.

Shane on his property with Dewey.