They shine in our kitchens but are produced in the dark, underground, almost in secret. Contrary to popular belief, most of the famous button mushrooms do not come from Ile-de-France but from the Loire Valley, from the area of Saumur (Maine-et-Loire) in particular. And if the largest volumes come out of air-conditioned industrial buildings, a handful of small producers perpetuate the underground tradition. The Roulleau family is one of them. Since 1950, it has operated a cellar with five kilometers of galleries, dug into the tufa rock.
“When I started with my father, it was the great era. It was teeming with life here. And there were plenty of mushroom farms like this in the region,” says Jacky, 69. Mechanization has been there and, from about sixty employees, the living cellar du Puy-Notre-Dame employs only five people today. A hundred tonnes of Paris mushrooms, but also oyster mushrooms, shiitake mushrooms and blue feet, are extracted there each year, approximately 8 m below the floor.
“We work very well in the dark”
From a compost pasteurized and inoculated, the mushrooms are grown in stacks, bags or, mainly, in large wooden tubs, in cycles of two to three weeks of harvest. Enough to obtain up to 25 kg per m2. “It’s always the same season underground, which is ideal. The temperature fluctuates between 12°C and 14°C all year round. And there is always humidity, an essential ingredient for our culture”, appreciates Jacky. The picking is done entirely by hand for “more precision” and “to respect the product”. “It’s not easy, you have to have a look. A mushroom picked too early means a loss of weight, a mushroom picked too late a loss of quality. Surprisingly, the headlamp provides the only lighting, rather than powerful spotlights. “We work very well in the dark. Those who don’t know can feel oppressed, but you get used to it quickly,” says Jacky.
Apart from the comings and goings of employees and a few bats “visible especially in the morning”, calm reigns permanently in this closed environment. The sexagenarian, passionate about the underground world in general, is more than at ease there. “It’s a hushed universe here. There is no noise, no wind, no rain… The exterior, in comparison, is super aggressive. The sun when we go out, I find it violent, for example. “His son, Julien, 42, confirms. “The job is not easy, it requires a lot of investment. But it is true that we are well underground all the same. We are sheltered from the passage of time. »
Tourism or data centers to reinvent themselves
The passage of time does not, however, play in favor of French mushroom farms, even less underground. “There are only three of us left in the region to work like this,” laments Julien Roulleau. International competition, particularly from Poland and China, has caused French production of button mushrooms to fall by nearly 50%. “We have long been the leading European producer. Until the collapse in the 2000s. We couldn’t keep up with the prices,” explains Jacky. More than half of the mushrooms consumed in France are now imported.
So, to compensate, and “pass on this story”, the Roulleau family’s living cellar, whose production has been “divided by 20”, opens to tourist visits five months of the year. “It interests a lot of visitors, including foreigners,” says Jacky, who also acts as a guide. Most mushroom farms in the Loire Valley do the same. Some, like the mushroom museum, having only tourism as an activity. “Times have changed, there is no point in being nostalgic, philosopher Jacky Roulleau. There are small producers who are starting over on a small scale, especially in towns. We can only encourage them. It’s important to stay close to consumers. »
In the Saumur region, other underground galleries are trying to reinvent themselves. The natural properties there are favorable to the preservation of the wine. The same applies to the integration of ultra-efficient and less energy-intensive data centers.