The process begins in the preparation of specialized compost. Wheat straw is the main ingredient with many others added to achieve the desired results. Much attention is paid to consistency, temperature, and moisture.

The compost is pasteurized, planted with the mushroom culture, and placed on growing beds in environmentally controlled rooms. The rooms are monitored 24 hours a day throughout the cycle. The cycle time for a crop of mushrooms is 13 weeks. There are typically three harvests from a crop. Growing mushrooms is a science and an art. No two crops are the same. Attention to details, consistency, teamwork, and lots of experience keeps Kitchen Pride producing quality mushrooms day-in and day-out.

The perfect temperature for mushrooms to grow is 59 to 64 degrees. That means lots of air conditioning in South Texas. Kitchen Pride has over 1100 tons of air conditioning capacity to keep the mushrooms cool during the growing cycle and almost 200 tons of refrigeration for post harvest cooling. A 150 hp natural gas boiler generates steam for pasteurization and heating year round. If we have an unexpected loss of electricity back-up generators are ready to step in and keep the mushrooms cool.