Nacho Mama's Soup!

     According to the folks at Purely American, "Up until the late 1800's the interest in growing mushrooms was limited to home gardeners, primarily because of the unreliable supply of imported spawn (seed)."  It wasn't until 1896 that William Swayne, a flower and vegetable grower from Kennett Square, PA, began to grow the fungus commercially as a secondary crop.

 

     By the turn of the Twentieth Century the industry literally mushroomed and by the Roaring Twenties several large Pennsylvania based commercial growers dominated the industry.  Currently mushrooms harvested in the Keystone State compose nearly half of the nation's 800 million pounds of fresh mushrooms grown annually.  Chester County alone accounts for one quarter of all the mushrooms produced in America.  No wonder Kennett Square calls itself "The Mushroom Capital of the World."

     Recently I came across an interesting recipe from Purely American that isn't like all the other mushroom soups that are cream based.  While they are good, to be sure, I was looking for something a bit different, something with a little zing.  So I purchased a mix calling for fresh mushrooms, ground beef, onion, beef stock and hot sauce.  It came with some seasonings and added barley and wild rice as well.

     It didn't take long to cook up and filled the house with a tantalizing aroma.  It was a hearty soup with the clear flavor of the mushrooms enhanced by the grains and the beef.  And the hot sauce provided a nice tang to the back of the throat.  It definitely wasn't the traditional cream of mushroom soup experience.  It was better!