Deep within a dark growing chamber in the bowels of a research lab at Acadia University, a lumpy white substance blooms up from an industrial tray.
It looks like meringue, or snow, or spray-foam insulation.
This alien-looking living organism with “a mind of its own” is mycelium — the roots of a mushroom.
Researchers at Acadia have teamed up with an entrepreneur to develop and fine-tune a process they hope will someday use the mycelium to produce a high-protein powder for the commercial food market.
The project is the brainchild of Katie McNeill, who started with just a kernel of an idea a few years ago.
McNeill, who has a background in agriculture, saw that some agricultural food products in the Valley were being wasted — incinerated or dumped in a landfill. She saw their potential.
“I just happened to stumble on some literature that showed that it could lend itself really well to growing a high-protein mushroom,” she says.
She connected with Allison Walker, a biologist at Acadia, and the two teamed up and got to work.
They chose one particular food waste — which they won’t divulge for proprietary reasons — from a food-grade facility in the Valley to grow the mycelium on.
Then, they experimented with different species of mushrooms, as well as temperature and humidity to find the optimal growing conditions.
Walker explains that they first make a liquid broth of mycelium and mix it with the food waste.
She lets the mycelium grow for a couple of days “to get big and juicy and happy” before introducing more food waste and eventually transferring the mycelium to trays.
“Normally if you think of a mushroom in the woods, mycelium is growing down and exploring the soil,” Walker says. “We’re trying to kind of minimize that and just make it grow up.”
She stops the growth before the mycelium produces mushrooms, and the whole process from start to harvest takes a week to 10 days.
High in protein, low in inputs
While mushrooms themselves are about 90 per cent water, and generally have protein levels around two per cent, the mycelium Walker and McNeill produce is around 40 per cent protein.
McNeill says that’s comparable to hemp protein, and slightly below pea or soy — which are usually processed to isolate the protein.
While there are other companies in Canada and the U.S. that offer mycelium protein, McNeill says some of those businesses grow it in large vats, creating a sludge that then gets turned into powder. McNeill, who started a company called Mycaro to develop and eventually sell her end product, says she wants to keep her product “as close to food as possible,” with less processing.
McNeill hopes the fact that Mycaro’s product will be produced sustainably will also give it a leg up in the marketplace.
Not only will it be using the agricultural food waste that would otherwise be disposed of, the product will also require less energy than some other protein sources.
Unlike meat, soy or pea protein, which can be land- and water-intensive, Mycaro’s product will be made indoors, using vertical farming techniques that involve stacking trays in a controlled environment.
However, while most vertical farming operations need light and therefore consume a lot of energy, mushrooms and mycelium grow in the dark, eliminating a key energy demand.
McNeill hopes to tap into sustainable sources of energy to power her future operation.
Neutral taste
Proteins are a “hot topic” right now, McNeill says, and not just among people hoping to bulk up at the gym. She says women who are looking to increase their protein intake are the largest growing segment of consumers, and they want a product that is right for them.
“It’s not as much about, you know, what’s the highest percentage and what’s going to give me the most bulk. It’s, you know, what’s going to feel good for me? Does it have fibre in it? Is it going to feel good in my stomach? Is it going to help me in the long run?”
McNeill says some consumers may not like the current protein options on the market, such as whey, soy or pea, due to the taste or how they affect their bodies.
“So there is this need for food manufacturers to be offering protein in their products … that aren’t those kind of legacy options and can bring something that doesn’t have those negative attributes associated with it.”
McNeill and Walker say the mycelium they are producing has a slightly nutty but very neutral taste.
Commercial production on horizon
Over the next few months, McNeill and Walker will be focused on increasing yield, and McNeill hopes to partner with the food lab at Acadia to test consumer opinion of the product.
McNeill says she aims to have a small commercial production facility set up in the Valley by the end of 2026 to refine the commercial process before expanding into a well-staffed operation.
“The mycelium has a mind of its own. It’s a little finicky. So we need people there growing, maintaining the growth rooms. There’s a big food safety component here. There’s a lot of quality assurance that’s going to have to go into it.”
So far, most of the funding for the research has come from Invest Nova Scotia, but McNeill says she hopes her company will be in position to take on other investments in the spring.
“Two years ago, three years ago, this was all but a dream. So it’s very exciting to have it be, you know, come into fruition and be moving forward.”
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