The University of Arizona class is called "Mushrooms, Molds and Man." Intrigued, undergraduate Lauren Jackson decided to learn about "Kingdom Fungi" and its impact on the world.
He was hooked in a heartbeat. Barely into the course, "I just raised my hand and asked about research opportunities." That week he started working in the lab with UA mycologist Barry Pryor.
Today, Pryor and Jackson are growing delicious, nutritious gourmet mushrooms – while turning coffee grounds, used brewery grains, straw, newspapers, pizza boxes and other woody landscape waste into compost. "Fungi are the great decomposers of the Earth. Without them, fallen trees would be stacked up in the forest. Without them, we would not have this regeneration of soil," Jackson said.
The UA's novel mushroom-based recycling program is "working with nature rather than against it," testing how well the mushrooms break down various materials. The next step is to grow the mushrooms on a larger scale, outside the plant sciences lab. At that point, the gourmet mushrooms could turn into an Earth-friendly cash crop.
Read more