Where Mushrooms Grow from Beer Waste

SUNDAY, JUNE 14, 2020 • HOME & GARDEN, DAILY COURIER, Grants Pass, Oregon 31 RIGHT: Quentin Declerck holds a variety of mushroom growing in a substrate at Le Champignon de Bruxelles urban farm in a Brussels cellar. When the founding members of the company first tried to grow their Shiitake, Maitake and Nameko mushroom varieties using coffee grounds as a substrate, they realized the fungi much preferred organic beer waste. BELOW: Different varieties of mushrooms grow in various substrates at Le Champignon de Bruxelles. Photos by VIRGINIA MAYO/Associated Press Where mushrooms grow from beer waste down the road, Declerck said. “In cities, with thyme microgreens, they work well the substrates can be used yet again, as In a Belgian brewery’s the beer waste would normally be thrown together,” he said. fodder or organic fertilizer that Le away. Gaugué also appreciates the ecological Champignon gives for free to local farm- cellar, a man conjures The Brasserie Cantillon, where tradi- side of the project, which implements a ers. tional Belgian beers Lambic, Gueuze and form of circular economy in a urban con- “They sell good products and promote up organic magic Kriek have been brewed since 1900, pro- text. Once the mushroom harvest is done, sustainability,” Gaugué said. duces organic beer six months of the By Samuel Petrequin year. “There’s definitely an advantage to try- Associated Press ing to find new things to do with the spent BRUSSELS — In Belgium, a country grain because, you know, it’s going back where beer is the culinary king, its brew- into the environment,” said Colleen ing also creates magic for mushrooms. Rakowski, a brewer at Cantillon. In the cellars of the famed Abattoir “It’s important to definitely re-use it as meat market in Brussels’ Anderlecht much as we can because it is organic neighborhood, Quentin Declerck and his material.” partners have come up with a business When beer waste is not available local- idea for the times: Growing exotic mush- ly, the cooperative relies on the waste pro- Services, LLC room varieties using the spent grains from duced by other organic breweries outside organic breweries. of Brussels. 541-441-1952 With their ambient temperature never Velge says he is not obsessed with the Steve Weadock going below 52 degrees F, the cellars are whole organic idea, but the label is a pow- ideal to host a 32,000-square-foot under- erful marketing tool for the five tons of ground urban farm, where Declerck and mushrooms that they produce every Call now for his associates produce organic mush- month. FREE consultation! rooms. “What really interests me is to produce When they started “Le Champignon de locally in the city, and to exploit resources Bruxelles” in 2014, founding members that are not used,” he said. Landscape Design & Installation Hadrien Velge and Sevan Holemans first Benjamin Gaugué, a cook who honed Landscape Design & Installation tried to grow their Shiitake, Maitake and his skills at the prestigious Georges Blanc Ponds Ponds andand WaterfallsWaterfalls •• Water-wiseWater-wise IrrigationIrrigation Nameko varieties using coffee grounds as restaurant in France and went on to work a substrate. They soon realized that mush- with rising star David Toutain, is a fan. At Xeriscapes Xeriscapes •• PollinatorPollinator GardensGardens •• PatiosPatios andand DecksDecks rooms prefer beer. “De Bruxelles et D’ailleurs,” he cooks with Retaining Retaining WallsWalls •• OutdoorOutdoor LightingLighting “It did not work out well with coffee. So the mushrooms. LCB# 8790 • Licensed / Bonded / Insured • 30+ Years Experience we teamed up with the Cantillon brewery “I tend to work my oyster mushrooms.

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