Cave des Roches
Agricultural production · Montrichard ·
Underground mushroom farm, limestone quarry, and carved village tours
Underground mushroom farm, limestone quarry, and carved village tours
"Hundreds of years ago, when building châteaux, limestone was sourced in underground quarries across the Loire. Now, those man-made caves are used for everything from aging wine to growing mushrooms. At La Cave des Roches, you can explore a mushroom farm over 160 feet underground, where yellow oyster mushrooms, “pieds-bleus,” and shiitakes grow on wooden racks in the cool air. They grow more than 100 tons of mushrooms every year — in fact, 40 percent of the world’s “pieds-bleus,” or blue feet mushrooms, are grown there and shipped around the world. After the tour, you can taste the mushrooms and buy fresh, dried, and jarred ones to take home. There are also mushroom-themed meals and wine and cheese tastings." - Lee Musho
"La Cave des Roches, also known as les caves champignonnières or the “mushroom caves,” are part of a vast network of tunnels and caves in France’s Loire Valley. They’re the result of hundreds of years of mining the Bourré region’s prized white limestone. In addition to their function as limestone mines, these caves were once used as dwellings, storefronts, restaurants, and wine cellars. Today, the quarrying has ceased and the dwellings and storefronts are largely gone, but one industry continues to make use of the caves’ dark, dank environs. Mushroom farms have long been a troglodytic tradition. Though their numbers have declined in recent years, the region remains a major exporter of specialty mushrooms, particularly the native pied bleu or “blue foot” variety. The caves’ humid air and constant temperature of 53 degrees Fahrenheit provide ideal conditions for fungi to thrive. Different cultivation methods are employed depending on the species: Native oyster mushrooms are grown on blocks composed of soil and horse manure, while shiitakes make their home on blocks of sawdust. Visitors to the caves are invited to sample fresh-plucked mushrooms and purchase larger quantities from the on-site shop. La Cave des Roches make up roughly 75 miles of the valley’s 1,200-mile cave network. Public tours of La Cave des Roches have helped make them among the best-known of the region’s mushroom caves. The nearby Museé du Champignon (mushroom museum) outside St. Hilaire-St. Florent offers visitors another opportunity to tour a working mushroom cave and learn about the region’s rich history of mushroom cultivation." - ATLAS_OBSCURA
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