Saturday Farmers’ Market Vendor Feature: Oyster & King Mushrooms

Regular shoppers at the UBC Farm market are passionate about high-quality organic mushrooms, thanks to regular vendor Oyster & King!

Now in their third year vending at our market, Oyster & King sell local and organic specialty mushrooms from their family farm in Cloverdale, BC as well as from other local mushroom suppliers. Their mission includes a focus on “local sustainable wild produce distribution” and a “transparent and fair supply chain” between producers and consumers or chefs. Last week, market intern Rachel Chew had the chance to talk to owner and fun-gi David Xiao to find out a little more about their local business.

Did you know their business roots go back to the UBC Farm site in the mid-’90s, before the Farm began?

Where are you guys located?

We are located in Cloverdale, Surrey. We have a family farm there.

What brought you to UBC farm?

Owner David Xiao, right, with brother Alan

We originally started here. We used to grow mushrooms in the harvest hut, and we had shipping containers come out of it. Our boiler room and set up was set up in there before we moved to Cloverdale.

Where else can people find Oyster and King?

We do a lot of wholesale to local chefs here in Vancouver, but aside from UBC Farm Market on Saturdays, you can find us at Mount Pleasant farmers market at Dude Chilling Park on Sundays, as well as Coquitlam Farmers Market also on Sundays.

What practices do you use to grow your mushrooms?

We grow our specialty mushrooms organically in alder sawdust and we spore to fruit, which means we do our own lab work and produce our own culture. We work with local foragers, like the morels we have right now… one of them being Sunfire Forage!

What’s your favourite mushroom?

I like all mushrooms. I have phases; recently, I’ve been into morels because they are in season. I like shiitakes as well!

What’s your favourite way to eat your mushrooms?

I like the bigger shiitakes in heartier cooking, like soups and stews. Smaller shiitakes, I like to use them in stir frys. Portobellos are versatile and hold well to the grill and you can stuff them. Oysters are good for light cooking, like light stir frys.

Just for fun… if you were to be a mushroom, which type would you be?

Oh man, I would definitely be a matsutake. I would be elusive, seasonal, and very tasty.

Owner David Xiao, right, with brother Alan

Find Oyster & King at the market every Saturday until September 1. Want to learn more? Visit their Instagram or Facebook page. Learn more about other market vendors and topics on our Saturday Farmers’ Market blog! Watch this space for stories about our vendors, explorations of some of the common questions that get asked by shoppers at the market, and discussions of relevant concepts to the local food economy. These blog posts will be linked from our newsletter each week; to get regular updates, make sure to join our newsletter here.