Summer sales of mushrooms have increased by 8.3 per cent over the last four years, with the vegetable becoming an increasingly popular addition to salads.
The growth figures from TNS follow concerted efforts by industry body the Mushroom Bureau to promote the adaptability of mushrooms, which is traditionally seen as a “hot” vegetable.
According to Bureau chairman Andrew Middlebrook, raising awareness about the versatility of mushrooms and boosting sales in the summer months has been a key focus of the Bureau and the promotions, which have included creating new mushroom-recipe ideas, have paid off, he said: “Due to the ongoing work of the Mushroom Bureau, consumer attitudes towards mushrooms and their standard meal occasions are slowly starting to change and we have seen regular growth through the summer periods over the last four years. Sales overall across the whole year have increased by 10.5 per cent from 2002-05.
“And now that mushrooms have been elevated to superfood status, following research from Penn State University which revealed that white mushrooms are one of the richest sources of the powerful antioxidant ‘ergothioneine’, mushrooms will certainly appear in the shopping baskets of most health conscious consumers too,” he added.
