Mushrooms, Bell Peppers, Sustainable Agriculture, Wild Mushroom Galette - America's Heartland

Coming up on America's Heartland, discover how mushrooms are grown and harvested at a family-owned mushroom farm near California's Monterey Bay. Through farmer's markets and retail stores, these farmers aim to educate their customers by introducing them to fun and unusual mushroom varieties. I find that people are a lot more adventurous than I think they would be in the grocery store. Join Farm to Fork host Sharon Propas as she prepares a wild mushroom galette. From the flaky crust to the mushroom filling, she'll walk you step-by-step through this savory dish. Look at that beautiful, beautiful mushroom filling. Plus it's harvest time for this much-loved specialty crop. We visit this bustling farm as they pick and pack bell peppers and learn why California is a top grower of these popular green and red varieties. The climate is ideal for pepper growing. And meet the women behind Village Acres Farm. They've become leaders in sustainable agriculture and organic farming in central Pennsylvania. See what methods they're using to protect the soil and water on their land. It's all coming up on America's Heartland. America's Heartland is made possible by. ♪ You can see it in the eyes of every woman ♪ ♪ In America's Heartland, close to the land ♪ ♪ Country and a pride in America's Heartland ♪ ♪ Livin' close, close to the land. ♪ Now this may look like lobster, but it's not. And this cauliflower? Well, it's not cauliflower, but a mushroom called lion's mane. Lion's mane is really cool for kind of like imitating meat. So you can kind of cut really thick slices of it and almost do like a crab cake out of it. Some people will bread them up and fry them. So you get this like nice crispy texture on it. The distinctive looking lobster and lion's mane are just two of the organic exotic mushroom varieties that customers can find at the Far West Fungi Cafe in Santa Cruz, California. They're usually just really intrigued with the variety that we bring in. Maybe the only thing they've ever had is a white button mushroom that came in a can and how much they dislike those mushrooms. And then when they come to our shop, they realize, well, it's not the only thing that is available. We do have some new merchandise that's going to be coming in. It looks like online sales have been really good. Ian Garone oversees operations for Far West Fungi's Santa Cruz store and the company's outlet in San Francisco's Ferry Building. The family-run agricultural operation with Ian, his parents, and three brothers also provides online sales and reaches consumers directly at more than a dozen farmer's markets in Northern California. Many shoppers are attracted to the exotic mushroom varieties seldom found elsewhere. Well, they love the product. Usually they say, I haven't been able to find this for years or, you know, this was a mushroom that I only found in my native country, whether it be the Philippines or, you know, Russia. Ian's parents, John and Toby Garone, began the business in the 1980s. John came from a farming background. Living in San Francisco, the couple began growing mushrooms in a warehouse as a sideline to John's full-time job. When I started working in the mushroom business, I was still a member of the communications staff for the San Francisco Police Department. And so basically I was dispatching police cars at night and then selling mushrooms in the morning. Far West raises their organic exotic mushroom varieties at two locations south of San Jose in California's coastal area. The majority are raised here in an extensive warehouse complex near Moss Landing. So you can actually grow mushrooms anywhere all over the world because you're basically having mushroom houses that are temperature and humidity controlled. Ian's brother, Kyle Garone, handles operations here, a complex process involving detailed steps unlike other types of agricultural production. That's because mushrooms are their own organism, neither plant nor animal. Mushrooms draw nutrients from their environment and don't need sunlight to flourish. So it's very different than any other type of agricultural product. It's somewhere in between like farming and science and somewhat like a factory because you're producing it in large volumes and big warehouses. Far West grows their fungi in organic hardwood sawdust. After an aging fermentation period, nutrients are added to supplement the sawdust and the combination moves through a mixing machine to be packed into large bags. From there, these bags of hardwood growing material called substrate are off to be sterilized in large boiler-like ovens called autoclaves. And so we will sterilize them at a 121 Celsius or 250 degrees Fahrenheit for about four hours to eliminate all the life in the material. From there, the bags go to a clean room where the substrate is inoculated with something called mycelium, different strains of which determine the dozen plus exotic varieties of mushrooms raised here. So we'll be adding that to our bags and then we seal the bag. And so we're basically sealing the fungus within its food source in a sterile environment. So it's basically you have your fungus with its food without any competition. And that will allow that mushroom to grow and develop without having any issues of different diseases coming into our substrate. The bags of inoculated substrate are stored in dark, humid environments where the mushrooms sprouting from the substrate are harvested by hand. Far West will process more than 20,000 bags a week. From the beginning, farmer's markets have been key to the family's success as customers looking to expand their food horizons sampled and purchased new varieties. Farmer's markets are really important. I find that people are a lot more adventurous than I think they would be in the grocery store. I think that we were so lucky as to when we started and just the movement of food and fresh food, organic food, healthy food has, you know, we just came into it by luck at the right time. Ian Guaroni hopes his young daughters can someday carry on this farming family tradition. A tradition that he says uses everyone's talents to the best advantage. So we have all our strengths, you know, kind of covered but everyone does different things. And I think that really helps allow us to kind of grow in our own areas and then also can support each other. Take your pick, there are several thousand varieties of mushrooms growing in the United States but only a few hundred are thought to be safely edible. And a word about toadstools. The word was once used interchangeably by some cultures in identifying certain mushrooms. Today, the word toadstool is often used to describe examples of poisonous mushrooms. Today, we're making a wild mushroom galette. It is a pretty simple recipe, even for non-bakers. First, I'll add one and a half cups of all-purpose flour to a food processor. In this case, I'm adding salt and pepper because this is a savory crostata and I want that flavor to come through. I'm also going to have a little fun with it and add some herbs to the crust. We'll go ahead and give that a few pulses. I'm going to add all of these pieces of butter right in there. I have about half a cup of ice water here. I'm going to add just as much as is needed to bring the dough together. If it comes together like that, you are all set. So let's go ahead and dump this out onto the cutting board, get our dough into a disc, and then we'll chill it for about an hour in the fridge. Now I'll cover it with some plastic wrap. And what will happen in the fridge during that hour is the flour will continue to absorb that moisture. Now let's get started on that wild mushroom filling. We're going to lightly caramelize onions. And to that, I'll add a tablespoon of butter and just a little bit of olive oil. Now we'll leave those be while we prepare our mushrooms. We have three types of mushrooms. I have cremini mushrooms. We also have oyster mushrooms. And then we have maitake mushrooms, which are also known as hen-of-the-woods mushrooms. So you want about 20 to 24 ounces of mushrooms here with about a pound of that being the cremini mushrooms. Our onions are exactly where we want them to be, so let's go ahead and add our mushrooms. We're adding what looks like a lot of mushrooms to this pan, but mushrooms lose a ton of moisture when they cook. So what looks like a lot will end up being just the right amount for our galette. I'll also, at this point, add some salt and a few cracks of pepper. We'll saute these until the mushrooms have shrunk and released most of their moisture. The mushrooms have a little bit of grounding on some of them so we want to add our final ingredients. I'm going to add four cloves of garlic grated right into the pan. I also want to add some thyme, give that a rough chop. And I'm also going to deglaze the pan with about a tablespoon of balsamic vinegar. It'll add just a little bit of that tart, sweet flavor that'll round out this filling. Let's put together our galette. Our dough has been resting in the fridge for about an hour. We want to roll it out to a 14-inch circle. I am actually going to go ahead and transfer this to a baking sheet and stick it in the freezer. Now let's finish up our filling. So we have our mushrooms and onions that have cooled here. I also have about a cup of shredded fontina cheese. That's it, our filling is ready and now it needs to go inside the crust. I'm leaving about one to two inches of a border here and now we'll fold this over. I'm just giving a little gentle pinch around the edges here. I'll sprinkle the remaining cheese right on top. I also like to let it kind of go over the crust a little bit and final step is to get an egg wash on this crust so that it browns beautifully. Then it'll go into the oven at 400 degrees for about 45 minutes. Then we'll take it out and let it rest for about 20 minutes. In the meantime, let me show you how to make chimichurri sauce to go with this recipe. To make chimichurri, you'll need one bunch of cilantro, half a bunch of parsley, two tablespoons of red wine vinegar, half a chopped shallot, half a cup of olive oil, and salt, pepper, and a pinch of paprika. The rest is simple. Add all the ingredients except for the olive oil to a food processor. Then while the motor runs, drizzle in the oil. Depending on how many herbs you added, you may need to add a little more oil and vinegar to get that smooth consistency. Finally, transfer your chimichurri to a jar and keep it in the fridge for five to seven days. Our galette is out of the oven. It has cooled for about 20 minutes and now we're ready to slice into it. The crust has gotten this beautiful golden brown color. It's also nice and flaky. Look at that beautiful, beautiful mushroom filling. I love that with a galette, it goes all the way to the very edge and then you get that nice fold of crust right on top. You can see we have a nice flaky crust. And we've made that chimichurri sauce. The brightness of the chimichurri sauce thanks to the acidity of the vinegar just goes so, so well with this dish. And now, all that's left to do is eat. Still ahead on America's Heartland, join us as we visit a women-owned organic farm in Pennsylvania. We'll show you what practices they've put in place to make Village Acres Farm a sustainability leader in their region. But first, bell peppers are a popular food in the United States. Enjoyed fresh, stuffed, or as a topping on pizzas, we visit Live Oak Farms in California's Central Valley as they harvest and pack a variety of bell peppers fresh off the farm. Under the warm California sun, on more than 2,000 acres of land, rows and rows of green and red bell peppers have found the perfect place to grow and thrive. California, I mean, the climate is ideal for pepper growing. Brianna Giampoli, her brother Dominic, and their father, Bob, are the third and fourth generation of farmers who own Live Oak Farms in LeGrand, California. I'm the farm manager for most of the vegetable crops throughout many of the different regions for Live Oak Farms. Bob's sister, Sandy, also works here, running the main office. But it's out in these fields, in California's Central Valley, where Live Oak Farms first started, thanks to their ancestors who came from Italy in 1926 and planted their first tomato crop. They researched and, I guess, decided LeGrand was a good place to grow their tomatoes, and they must've brought their seeds. Later, they began growing almonds, jalapenos, corn, eggplant, and bell peppers. The family soon learned how well peppers adapt to the California climate. Eventually, they were able to make the most of regional temperature changes to grow peppers throughout the year. So we grow in many different regions, pretty much. So we extend our season, and just different areas of California are better for our crops, just because of the weather patterns that go throughout California. Here in LeGrand, they're able to grow peppers three months out of the year. When it's too hot here, it's just right farther west in the coastal area of Gilroy. In the Southern California regions of Coachella and Bakersfield, they can plant earlier because it gets hotter sooner. Farming in four different regions allows the family to harvest peppers nine months out of the year. As we continue to push the boundaries and extend our crops into different areas, make it a year-round process is the goal. Today is harvest day in the Gilroy fields, where crews work alongside a mechanized belt to hand-pick bell peppers. They pretty much pick a basket of bell peppers, put it on the belt. It gets shifted over to a tractor that's carrying six bins and a trailer behind it. Workers carefully dump the peppers into the bin to make sure there's no bruising. Red peppers are hand-packed in the field, while green ones are sent to the packing shed in LeGrand, where they're processed. Once it gets to the packing shed, they are washed, they are sorted. So wanting to take out all the defected peppers, the ones that aren't desirable to consumers or to our buyers. Then they go down a packing line where the machinery inspects each pepper again for defects and shoots them to the appropriate box. The boxes are stacked and sent to the cooler to await shipping trucks. Those trucks deliver Live Oak Farms produce throughout the U.S. and Canada. Look for it in grocery stores. I'm sure you're eating them at restaurants, which is really great, at least for me, as a farmer, to know that we are helping feed America. That's one reason the Gempolis say they want to continue the family tradition of farming, despite the many challenges facing farmers in California. The biggest challenges I think are at the top of the order would be labor and regulations in California. It just gets harder and harder. All of their vegetables are hand harvested. So as labor costs go up, production costs go up. When they don't have enough workers, they fall behind and risk losing produce that sits unharvested in the field. The other big problem they face is with California's ongoing drought. We're going to soon have restrictions on pumping water. So years when there is a drought or we don't have as much rain, the pumps are going to be limited to what we can grow. So we're going to have to do more with less acres. With lack of water, if we're not able to give tomatoes, bell peppers, the amount of water that is needed to grow, we're going to see differences in whether it be fruit size or volume or all across the board. Considering all of the challenges, Bob Giampaoli encouraged his kids to leave the farm for college and come back only if they're passionate about farming and dedicated to finding solutions to these big challenges. I'm glad they're back and they're a big push of it now because it's not getting any easier in this day and age. Brianna and Dominic both say they can't imagine doing anything else. I've really asked myself that question, like, what else would you do? And I can't find an answer, which makes me believe I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be. I love growing the product. I love working with my family. It's something I knew from a young age. You either like it or you don't. And I've always loved being out in the fields. It's a hard job. It's not for everyone. A lot of hours, a lot of, you know, sleepless nights. This family says they're still driven by a passion for farming, for working with family, and ultimately a desire to grow a quality product that would make their great-grandparents proud. Both generations hope to continue a family tradition that includes feeding the community and caring for their land. To me, it's to maintain the goal that I think, you know, my great-grandparents started, and it was to keep a family farming business going for generations to come and to just keep growing and keep giving the next generation something to look forward to coming back home to. Here's a fun fact about bell peppers. Most people think bell peppers are a vegetable, but they're actually a fruit. They're produced from a flowering plant and come from the same family as tomatoes and eggplants. Green bell peppers are the most popular variety in the United States, but you'll also commonly find yellow, orange, and red peppers. The fruit changes color as it ripens on the vine, so a red bell pepper is actually a very ripe green bell pepper. As the fruit ripens, the sugar content increases, making the red bell pepper the sweetest variety. ♪♪ From a very early age, I was working in the fields with my parents. My dad grew up on a farm about eight miles from here, and his father was an organic farmer. My grandfather kind of stayed true to organic practices and very much influenced my dad in that way. Everywhere you look, you'll see the influence of Deborah's father and grandfather on these 75 acres of land. It's called Village Acres Farm, and it's known in Central Pennsylvania for being a leader in sustainability. Today, the farm is run by Deborah Brubaker and her wife, Hannah Smith Brubaker. Deborah's sisters, Phoebe and Angela Brubaker, also run a commercial flower business on the farm, making this a true family affair. We have cropland, about five to seven acres of vegetable crops, as well as doing pastured livestock. We grow about 50 different varieties of vegetables, and the breed of sheep that we raise is Shetland, which is traditionally from Scotland. They do a really good job in everything from weed control to returning nutrients to the soil. In the early days, Village Acres Farm was a place where customers could pick their own berries. At other times, the farm offered community-supported agriculture, or CSA, boxes. Today, they mostly sell their produce at local restaurants. Deborah says she and her siblings were raised by parents who believed that farming was a higher calling. I think it's the fusion of my dad's real interest in farming with my mom's love of birds, flowers, everything to really kind of create a property that really looks out for both food for humans as well as the natural environment. We know that mom and dad really wanted it to be a place that fed other people, not just food, but also valuable relationships. And so we've been sort of looking at how flowers are integrated. The flowers bring in a new income stream, and just as important, they're good for the crops. So we've added a lot of flowers to our farm, which is great because that's a great enterprise, but at the heart of it, we can grow better vegetables attracting the bees. The family has made other changes to increase sustainability on the land. They planted 3,000 native trees, creating a buffer along the creek. That buffer prevents soil from washing into the creek when it rains. We want that soil to stay in the fields. And so we've been working with farmers for a couple of years now to establish trees along the creek on their farms so that it's cleaner water when it comes our way to our farm. These are the paprika peppers, two different varieties. For true sustainability, we focus on three areas, people, planet, and production or profitability. When it comes to people, we wanna make sure that we have a good quality of life here on our farm, and that we're also economically supporting our local community. In terms of the earth, we wanna make sure that we can continue to grow food well into the future. So we wanna pay attention to things like soil health and water quality, and then profitability or production. Well, in order to make it as farmers, we have to be profitable. While Village Acres Farm is notable for its sustainability practices, they say there's something else that sets them apart. Honestly, I think what's probably makes us most notable is that we're a bunch of women on this farm. So right now, all my mother, the three of my siblings, my partner, who's also a woman, is sort of what identifies us to the larger community. In the end, we're really a united force. We know that we want to feed people, that we want to create a beautiful and ecologically sound environment, and that takes all of us. Pennsylvania ranks third in the nation when it comes to organic product sales. The state is consistently in the top five states for organic mushrooms, eggs, turkeys, and dairy cows. That's contributed more than $1 billion to Pennsylvania's economy, with demand only increasing, fueled in part by the state's close proximity to major markets like Philadelphia, New York, and Washington, D.C. That's it for this edition of America's Heartland. For more stories, full episodes, and recipes, visit americasheartland.org, or connect with us on Facebook. ♪ You can see it in the eyes of every woman and man ♪ ♪ In America's Heartland, living close to the land ♪ ♪ There's a love for the country and a pride in the brand ♪ ♪ In America's Heartland, living close, close to the land ♪ America's Heartland is made possible by