The Mushroom Council continues to target retailers to introduce The Blend into deli, foodservice and meat departments. Through efforts such as the Better Burger Project, chefs have created media sensations about how blended burgers taste better and are better for you.

Bill Litvin, senior vice president of sales and national account manager for Giorgio Fresh headquartered in Blandon, PA, said that many chefs found their burger sales increase and would continue to use The Blend in the future.

Giorgio Fresh white mushrooms.“Colleges, universities and non-commercial dining segments are all incorporating mushrooms, which now have more than 80 percent menu penetration,” said Litvin. “Mushroom popularity is on the rise causing increases in mushroom demand across all sectors.”

Specialty and organic mushrooms show the strongest growth. According to data from the Mushroom Council, sales for organic mushrooms grew 20.5 percent in the last year.

“The Mushroom Council has done a great job increasing awareness of mushrooms and their attributes, including nutrition and use information,” said Litvin. “While the price of meat has increased, the growing awareness of blendability has provided consumers with the knowledge of a healthy and cheaper alternative for their recipes in mushrooms. The more informed consumers become the more comfortable and confident they are about cooking with mushrooms.”

Organic mushrooms, he added, allow consumers to have a healthy diet with minimal pesticides without a huge price-tag.

The Mushroom Council continues to work tirelessly to have schools, foodservice chefs, chain supermarkets and meat suppliers across the country embrace The Blend concept and work mushrooms into the menus, recipes and daily operations.

“By facilitating information, education and formulation between chains and suppliers, they are working together to find the best way to incorporate The Blend into preexisting equipment and processes,” said Litvin. “They’re also working with large chain restaurants to promote menu development in order to include high-quality protein foods that feature blended recipes.”

All of these efforts have led to increased demand as individuals are beginning to realize the options mushrooms can provide. Understanding the health benefits leads consumers to be more confident about incorporating The Blend into their food plans, and is contributing to the increased demand seen in these sectors.

White mushrooms continue to be the category most familiar to U.S. buyers, but Litvin pointed out that brown mushrooms, including Portabellas and Criminis, account for 17 percent of mushrooms sold.

Over the past year, the brown segment saw a 3.7 percent increase of total dollar sales, according to Litvin. “This was primarily driven by Portabella mushrooms, which are up by 6.3 percent. Recently, specialty and organic mushrooms have also seen an increase in demand,” he said.

Mushroom market prices are holding relatively steady, rising just a penny a pound from the previous year according to the latest shipping report from the Mushroom Council.

“White and brown mushrooms have both seen steady prices since last year,” Litvin noted. “Meanwhile, the highly popular mushroom of the day — the Crimini — has decreased in price by 7.5 percent compared to last year.”