Below Farm
Hand-grown fungi using local materials
When you think of mushrooms growing, you picture dark, damp and cold. But Below Farm grows mushrooms in the desert. Mushrooms are a delicate orgranism, so by growing locally, Below Farm guarantees freshness, quality, flavour and variety that isn't on offer with imported varieties. Their controlled environment farm in Abu Dhabi ensures year round production. Their range is made up of mushrooms that have never been grown before in the UAE, and they are constantly experimenting to add new varieties to their range.
Below Farm puts sustainability in centre of every decision they take, after all fungi are nature's tool in the circular economy. They harness this power of mushrooms to upcycle waste palm leaves (a byproduct of the region's date farming) and convert them into delicious specialty mushrooms, which are bursting with flavours and health benefits.
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Fungi range
King Oyster Mushrooms
King Oysters are the true kings in the kitchen. Their firm stem is versatile and can be shredded to mimic pulled meat, or sliced to substitute scallops.
Oyster Mushrooms
Oyster mushrooms’ beautiful coral-like clusters have a mild seafood-like flavour & delicate texture.
Shiitake Mushrooms
Shiitakes that mushroom flavour that button mushrooms just don’t manage. They are woody in flavour and meaty in texture, an excellent addition to any dish.
Wojciech Slowinski
Co-Founder
Designing a way to grow mushrooms in the desert
Wojciech Slowinski grew up in a small village in Poland, and from a young age he would go foraging in for mushrooms with his family. The idea for growing mushrooms in the desert was brewed up by the incubator for ideas that was the Covid-19 pandemic and inspired by the mushroom farms in his home country. The combination of electrical and energy automation by profession and a self-trained mycologist was the perfect recipe for honing the craft of mushroom cultivation in the desert.
