Dr Arrold bought the disused railway tunnel between Bowral and Mittagong in 1987, and having completed doctoral studies in the microbiology of mushrooms, was the perfect person to turn his hand to the business of cultivating exotic varieties in this tunnel, calling his business Li-Sun Exotic Mushrooms (the name derived from a combination of his son's and daughter's names).
The tunnel provides an almost ideal environment for growing these fascinating and beautiful fungi, being able to trap moisture and keep a high level of humidity that the mushrooms need. Apparently a few tweaks are needed every now and then to temperature levels, particularly in winter, but once established they actually sounded relatively low maintenance compared to many other plants that are cultivated for food.
The tunnel is 650 metres long, and within this space there are 8 varieties grown - Enoki; Shiitake; Chestnut; Oyster (coloured and regular) ; Shimejii; Wood Ear and King Brown and Nameko. Some are grown in either straw-filled black plastic bags hung off the wall (Oyster and Wood Ear) or from compressed eucalyptus chip blocks arranged in racks, while others such as Enoki are grown in ceramic pots. The environment and growing media aim to replicate the mountainous forests that these mushrooms naturally grow in (found primarily in China, Japan and Korea).
Nameko
Oyster
King Brown
Coloured Oyster
The tunnel is used for the last part of the growing process, once the spawn has been cultivated in separate areas (a carefully managed process which requires a high level of hygiene and sterilised equipment and media to ensure moulds and other micro-organisms don't grow in conjunction and kill the spawn before it has developed properly). Once the spawn is established though, and starting to form the mushrooms, it is much more hardy, and Dr Arrold actually allows moulds such as penicillin to thrive alongside the mushrooms as this is again similar conditions to how the mushrooms would grow in the wild.
Bottle of spawn mixed with sterilised rye grain - ready for cultivation
This leads to an interesting point that Dr Arrold brought up - the medicinal potential for these mushrooms. In Chinese and Japanese cultures, these types of mushrooms and others have often been used over centuries for their effects in boosting the immune system and they are even believed to have potential natural anti-inflammatory and other chemicals which could be used in treating serious illness such as cancer and AIDS.
Now normally I am quite a sceptic when it comes to claims such as this from alternative medicine practitioners, but on the other hand, many medicines that are currently used for their chemotherapeutic benefits, such as Tamoxifen (used to treat breast cancer), were originally isolated from rainforest and other plants that had been used by local communities in remote locations around the world for a long time previously, for their health benefits. There is a particular variety called Miitake that Dr Arrold is keen to start growing for exactly these purposes, and is currently working with government and stakeholders to explore further the possibility of importing and growing this type in Australia.
It was a very interesting and atmospheric tour through the tunnel - a little bit exciting going into what feels like a hidden cave filled with all sorts of strange and magical things! As you can see from the photos, the mushrooms are quite beautiful, some of them looking almost like coral or flowers than edible goods. The business is quite prolific and successful now, making a profit of around $1.5 million per year - many of the top restaurants buy the mushrooms every week (Kylie Kwong has even featured the business in her cookbook 'It Tastes Better').
Li-Sun Exotic Mushrooms website
Contact Details:
Dr Noel Arrold
PO BOX 433
Bowral NSW 2576
Australia
PO BOX 433
Bowral NSW 2576
Australia
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Thank you for this informative post! I also went on this tour over the weekend but I was so distracted by the beauty of these mushrooms - with their cespitose, pipe organ-like formations - that I didn't hear much of Dr Arrold's commentary. Also, great photographs!
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