Kennett Square, Pennsylvania
The mushroom capital of the United States
Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, and the surrounding southeastern Chester County area produce roughly half of all US cultivated mushrooms — a remarkable industry concentration that makes the small town genuinely the 'mushroom capital' as it markets itself.
About kennett
Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, and the surrounding southeastern Chester County area produce roughly half of all US cultivated mushrooms — a remarkable industry concentration that makes the small town genuinely the 'mushroom capital' as it markets itself. The industry began here in the late 19th century with Quaker farmers cultivating white button mushrooms in underground rooms; the limestone bedrock and stable underground temperatures favored the controlled climate that mushroom cultivation requires. Today the industry produces white button mushrooms, cremini, portobello (mature cremini), and increasingly specialty species including shiitake, oyster, maitake, and king oyster — though Asian-origin species are also cultivated in dedicated Asian-immigrant-owned operations elsewhere. The producer landscape includes large industrial mushroom houses (Phillips Mushroom Farms, Modern Mushroom Farms, and Giorgio Fresh among the major players) and smaller specialty operations. The labor force is largely Mexican and Latino, with intergenerational family employment in the industry. The town hosts an annual Mushroom Festival in early September that's one of the better-known food festivals in the Mid-Atlantic. National brands like Giorgio and Monterey Mushrooms ship from this region to supermarkets across the country.
Origin profile
Varieties from Kennett Square, Pennsylvania
5 varieties associated with this origin. Tap any variety for its full editorial profile.
Editorial notes
The white-mushroom-by-default of American supermarkets is almost entirely Kennett Square's doing — the industry concentration here, the supply chain relationships with national grocery chains, and the consistency-and-volume model built since the early 20th century all funnel to this small town in southeastern Pennsylvania. The specialty mushroom shift in the past 20 years (cremini, portobello, shiitake going mainstream) also largely originated from the same Kennett Square production base diversifying into new species, though Asian-immigrant operations elsewhere have grown the shiitake and oyster supply meaningfully.