Conversations with Myself

Happy Monday,

Lets talk about les champignons – the mushrooms.  We took a tour into one of many caves that grow mushrooms in France.  The caves were mining site for limestone that was used for the construction of the castles like the Chambord, Chinon and Chevery.  After the mining of limestone, the caves were not abandoned.  It was discovered that they provide the best climate for growing mushrooms.

 

In the early years, the mushroom specifically the button mushrooms were exclusive and only available to the elite. However, since then, better and more effective methods have been developed and there has been a huge increase in mushroom cultivation.  New technology is used to produce tonnes of mushrooms per day of which The Roches could not compete.  They then turned to producing rare types of mushrooms.

Cave Champignonnière des Roches is situated in Bourré village, Loire Valley.  When you are around this area be sure to pass by this hidden gem.  Entrance to the cave is by scheduled times.  We arrived in lunch time and 1h30min prior to the next trip.  So we ordered lunch.  They serve a standard three course meal.  Main meal is chicken with mushroom and potatoes.  Me and Cullo were not impressed by the taste, but don’t trust us.  Our taste buds are weird.  There was a group of about 45 people that came by bus and everyone was singing praises of how good was the main meal.  So, you will have to try it yourself.  But I can assure you that the wine, cheese and the desert were excellent.

We finished in time for the start of our tour. We went in with a group of 5 people.  The tour guide was in French and the lady explained in English for us.

Ok, lets see what is in the cave.  Its dark in there and cold.  Temperature is constant at 12 degrees Celsius.  We appreciated the drop in temperature from the hot sun outside.  

 

We started the tour at the village site.  It is a beautiful area showing how the village used to look like in them days.

From the village we were shown the method used in cutting the blocks of limestone for the construction of the castle.

 

Then we proceeded to different areas in the cave.  The Roches grow the shiitake, yellow and blue oysters and pied blue mushrooms.  This are rare types of mushrooms and very expensive hence they are not at the supermarkets. Instead they supply to the top star restaurant because the chefs understand the quality in them and willing to pay the high selling price. I must say they have a very distinct taste.  They served us some for lunch and we also bought some.  They are divine.

The Crates of mushrooms.  Each type of mushroom require a different cultivating method.

Blocks of vegetable compost laid neatly for growing Shiitake mushrooms. 

   

Yellow oyster mushrooms growing in blocks of compost.  The blocks of plastic bags containing spore injected compost are perforated.  In time, bunch of mushrooms shoot out of the holes.  When one bunch is ready for harvest another hole is opened for another bunch to shoot.  One bag can produce many mushrooms.  Therefore all mushrooms don’t get to ripe in one time thus mushrooms can be harvested periodically.

It was an hour long tour.  I would have never imagined mushrooms growing in caves. 

We then went out of the cave.  Our now cool bodies had to adjust to high outside temperature.

 

From the cave we did not go straight to our car. While everyone turned right to cross the road we went left.  We wanted to see the surrounding village.

The village is like many villages in France.  They have a charm.  They can make a sworn city girl to change minds in split seconds.

 

Back to the Cave Champignonnière des Roches reception, there is a small shop that sells mushrooms in tins and fresh ones.  We bought the fresh mushrooms and Cullo added them to our supper meal.  Delicious!.

 

Have a lovely day.

Take care,
Nez