World’s largest vertical mycelium farm scales up production of alternative bacon

The site is expected to grow three million pounds of mycelium each year

Spotted: It only takes MyForest Foods 12 days to grow an entire crop of mycelium, with the harvesting taking only a single day. Such rapid growth is made possible by the simulated forest inside Swersey Silos, the company’s newly expanded growing facilities in New York. The vertical farm contains seven growing rooms with just under two acres of total farm space.

The new silos allow the company to expand significantly its production of plant-based ‘MyBacon’. In one year, the facility will grow more than three million pounds of mycelium, which MyForest Foods grows in sheets. The sheets are sliced into bacon-sized pieces before being seasoned and smoked. Beet juice gives the alt-bacon a realistic colour, and coconut oil creates a satisfying crunch.

MyForest provides nutritional information and cooking instructions on the company website, and MyBacon is available at a small number of East Coast retailers. As production scales up, the brand will be able to develop additional products and further expand the availability of MyBacon.

Mycelium is becoming more common, as brands find ways to turn their biowaste into valuable secondary products and production scales up for commercial manufacturing of alternative materials.