Mushrooms’ new fresh, healthy image is sprouting double-digit sales growth for the industry, and Chester County’s fertile mushroom farms are set to harvest better profits from the goodwill.

“It seems that mushrooms have earned the title of ‘superfood,’ with high vitamin D content that all Americans are deficient in, and antioxidants,” Avondale’s Basciani Mushroom Farms General Manager Fred Recchiuti said in a recent report in The Packer.

In addition to growing more health-conscious, consumers have discovered exciting new mushroom varieties to incorporate into their cooking.

“Whites continue to stay steady, but crimini and portabella and some of the specialties, like shiitake and oysters, those are growing well,” Mushroom Council Marketing Manager Katie Preis said in the article.

The industry approached $1.1 billion in retail sales last year, an increase of 16 percent over the past five years, and prices for white mushrooms have increased $1 per 10 pounds in one year.

“There’s been so much information available to the consumer via the Internet or recipes or food networks, so many sources of information about product to the consumer, I don’t know how they could help but not be more aware of the benefits of the product,” another Avondale executive, Gourmet’s Finest Sales Manager Alan Kleinman, said.

Read more about the latest mushroom industry trend in The Packer here, and check out previous VISTA Today coverage of Chester County’s rich mushroom heritage here.