Breaking the Mold at Mossy Creek | Listen

By incubating and growing several strains of mushrooms, Mossy Creek is pushing biodiversity forward.

Mushrooms are having a moment. In addition to the oomph their earthy flavors and meaty textures bring to a range of dishes, recent wellness buzz praises their powerful and varied nutritional benefits, too. None of this is news to Andrew Reed, founder and co-owner of Mossy Creek Mushrooms in Jefferson City, Tennessee; he’s recognized and appreciated mushrooms’ positive attributes for more than 15 years. “Mushrooms are so important, not just as food, but also in health care,” he says. 

Andrew’s fascination with fungi began at the cellular level. After losing his factory job when the facility shut down in 2008, he went back to school, where a class genetic experiment grabbed his attention. “I was looking through a microscope at mold,” he says, “and its activity was amazing.” The moment moved him to change his major to mycology, and then a mushroom-growing hobby sprouted. He sold some of his harvest, and soon, his side hustle became a full-time business. In 2013, with his wife, Samantha, and two friends, Andrew opened Mossy Creek Mushrooms. 

While the number of mushroom farms in the United States is rising, Mossy Creek stands out, both in terms of what it is raising and how, growing different mushrooms in different seasons (like Mother Nature does), and turning out blue, white, and pink oyster mushrooms, shiitake, enoki, and more. To start its crops, Andrew simply makes a withdrawal from the strain bank he created. “We have a lab with more than 400 mushroom strains, and so we grow unique varieties because we run a breeding program,” he says. These specimens include a mushroom whose layers of frilly ruffles are reminiscent of an ’80s prom dress, as well as fragrant, wild golden oysters foraged from nearby hills and hollers.

The lab is Andrew’s happy place, where tests determine strains’ growth rates and temperature tolerances. Once mature, these test shrooms are often sent to trusted chefs who provide feedback on their looks and taste. But it all starts small; a tiny piece of any strain’s tissue can restart a life cycle that yields multiple new mushrooms. Depending on the type, in a few days or a few weeks, colonies of tiny “baby” mushrooms are moved to fruiting blocks of sawdust and oat hulls, which after a few more weeks are placed in Mossy Creek’s grow room. 

“We replicate natural conditions, even using a fine mist, like fog, to irrigate and avoid bruising them,” Samantha says. The system includes a mix of dry and wet spells, mirroring the outdoors’ fluctuating weather conditions. And Mossy Creek never uses pesticides. “Imitating nature gives us better product with a longer shelf life,” Andrew says.

Chefs and home cooks agree. Mossy Creek crops grace plates in Knoxville and Maryville, Tennessee, restaurants and at Blackberry Farm. At Dancing Bear Lodge in Townsend, Tennessee, the chef recently relied on Andrew to resurrect his wild supply. “He had a log producing shiitake, but it stopped, and he asked us to save it,” Andrew says. They did and are working to make its strain more productive. “I love connecting with chefs and seeing how each uses our products in different ways,” he adds. Every day, folks also pop in to buy mushrooms, but Samantha advises calling first. “We grow a few hundred pounds a week but sell out quickly,” she says.

Andrew enjoys the fruits of Mossy Creek’s labor in almost everything he eats (even baking bread with mushroom powder) and encourages others to do the same. “People who don’t like mushrooms, I bet they’ve only had one kind,” he says. “Mushroom flavor profiles range from lobster to maple syrup.”

Mossy Creek also puts emphasis on mushrooms’ medicinal value with its mushroom tinctures harnessing lion’s mane’s neurological benefits, reishi’s stress-busting and immune-boosting properties, and more. And Mossy Creek’s work will help secure mushrooms’ future. “Everyone used to buy strains from the same place, so it was basically monoculture, and when one farm got blight, we all got it,” Andrew says. “Our mission is strengthening mushroom biodiversity to keep mushroom farms everywhere healthy.” 

The goal is laudable, and the never-ending learning it requires keeps him hooked. “I can take a barely visible piece of tissue and grow a million pounds of mushrooms and do it again and again; their explosive productivity astounds me,” Andrew says. “And I’m excited to see what mushroom selective breeding can achieve. There’s a lot left to discover.”

Look for Mossy Creek Mushrooms on the menu at Dancing Bear Lodge and Blackberry Farm in Tennessee. They also sell a small amount of retail products, but be sure call ahead before visiting their Jefferson City, Tennessee, facility.

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