The family laughed so hard they almost fell out of their car seats when I suggested our next stop. “A mushroom museum? You’re kidding, right?” they asked. No, I wasn’t kidding – we were going to Mushroom Museum, Europe's largest mushroom museum, in the middle of the Loire Valley's white cliff landscape with caves.
Mushroom cultivation has a special place in the history of the Loire Valley, although underground mushroom cultivation actually began in the tunnels under Paris in the 17th century. However, when the metro began to be built in the late 19th century, the underground mushroom cultivation became an obstacle – and production was therefore moved to the Loire caves. Here, the caves maintain a constant temperature of between 12 and 14 degrees all year round, and the humidity is high – an ideal environment for mushrooms and other fungi.
Mushrooms can grow quickly – some varieties double in size in a day
For decades, mushrooms were grown and picked by hand in the dark cave passages. But in the second half of the 20th century, the cultivations were modernized and many troglodyte caves were abandoned in favor of large factory halls. The fierce competition from China, among others, has led to the demise of many small family farms, but France's largest mushroom producer is still here in Saumur. Popular mushrooms grown for restaurants and specialty shops are white mushrooms, oyster mushrooms, pied bleu (blue-footed mushrooms) and shiitake.
The mushroom museum itself is as much a mushroom farm as it is a museum. Here, deep inside the cave, you can learn all about all the world's mushrooms, while over 10 tons of mushrooms are grown for sale here in the corridors – mainly mushrooms, oyster mushrooms and shiitake. But other mushrooms are also grown here – each more alien than the next.
Mushrooms have two ways of reproducing – through the mycelium (roots) or via spores. A mycelium can extend for several square kilometres and weigh several tonnes, but it only pops up mushrooms where the conditions are just right. In the caves, the mushrooms are grown both on large tables and in plastic bags. Different mushrooms want different types of “soil” in the beds and often lots of fertiliser.
The museum itself is a mix of science and laughter. You learn that of the tens of thousands of mushrooms in the world, only about 2000 are edible. The rest are… well, let’s say less appetizing, smelly and poisonous. And no – no one has yet succeeded in growing chanterelles, but whoever succeeds can probably count on a Nobel Prize in their pocket. Chanterelles require living in symbiosis with the roots of trees, a so-called mycorrhiza.
I wandered around the museum's narrow corridors for about thirty minutes, but I could have stayed longer if I had read every sign. The signs are in French and English, but as usual, the English translation is always much shorter than the original text.
The museum also offers the opportunity to visit an old troglodyte house, where a family once lived. The facade of the house and the windows are flush with the rock face, but the rest of the house's rooms are carved out of the porous stone. Imagine a living room, kitchen and bedroom carved directly into the rock, here you can snacka about natural air conditioning. There are still people in the Loire Valley who live in troglodyte houses, but nowadays it is easier to maintain a dry and comfortable indoor climate in winter with the help of electricity.
Before we leave the museum, we pass by the souvenir shop. Here you can buy the fresh mushrooms grown in the caves, but also dried mushrooms, grow-your-own-mushroom kits, mushroom pens – you name it. You can make souvenirs out of everything. A bonus is that all children get their own little bag of mushroom mycelium to start their career as mushroom growers at home in the closet.
So the next time someone suggests a weird museum on vacation – don’t laugh too hard! You might end up standing in a cave in the Loire Valley and realizing that mushrooms aren’t actually that boring.
How do I get to the Mushroom Museum?
The Mushroom Museum Mushroom Museum is located 15 kilometers east of Nantes, among the vineyards and castles of the Loire Valley. There are more places in the area that you can visit if you want to learn more about cave-grown mushrooms, including visiting the farms Wolf Jump and The Rocks.
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But wow what a cool museum. So fun to see. Personally, I would have loved this museum. Now in the fall when my husband and I have been out for a walk, I have photographed every other mushroom and wondered what kind it is.
It's fun to have museums that don't just have dusty objects, but where you can actually see how things work! You can see that there are A LOT of weird mushrooms – both beautiful and very… special :)