How to Ship Fresh Mushrooms: The Ultimate Guide

Many people ask us how to ship mushrooms. Let’s face it, store-bought mushrooms are not all they’ve cracked up to be. You are considered lucky to get some that haven’t been completely broken up or spoiled by the time they have reached the shelves. The lack of variety is sure to leave one’s dishes bland and taste buds unamused and a large majority of gourmet mushrooms can’t even be bought in stores. Shipping fresh mushrooms, straight from their growing space to the consumer, is the freshest and fastest way to get mushrooms if they aren’t immediately available to you. It’s also an excellent way to reach customers from all around the United States, not just locally around you and can greatly increase your market reach. It has a reputation of being tedious, time-consuming and expensive, so a majority of sellers are quick to abandon it altogether. We hope that this article alleviates some of the misconceptions and questions surrounding shipping gourmet fresh mushrooms. Keep reading to learn how to ship fresh mushrooms from forest to table.

Mushrooms are easily perishable, that is a given, but what most people quickly forget is that mushrooms need some form of air exchange if they are being stored for long periods of time. Make sure to poke holes on the inside of the box – around 2-4 per vertical side. 

Fresh mushrooms are almost 90% water. It is extremely important to store them in a paper-based material. Usually, your typical brown paper bag will do the trick here. Simply harvest the fresh mushrooms, either from the growing area or from the wild, and immediately place them into a paper bag or paper-based clamshell. The paper bag or cardboard clamshell will allow the mushrooms to “breathe”, absorbing any excess moisture from the mushroom and effectively cooling the area it’s in. We recommend harvesting as close to the date of shipping as possible for maximum freshness. Keep the clamshell or paper bag in the fridge until the moment it is ready to ship.

Do not use a plastic bag to store mushrooms as this can encourage bacterial growth due to the excessive amounts of moisture that can become trapped in the bag.

Place your newly packaged mushrooms in the box. Make sure to add paper or another type of cushion around the packaged mushrooms to avoid any movement during transit. If it’s hot outside, you can put an ice pack inside of a paper bag and place this next to the packaged mushrooms along with other loose paper that has been compacted to prevent movement. See the images below for reference.

If the mushrooms are being shipped to a warm climate or if it is hot where you are, you can place an ice pack inside of a brown paper bag next to the mushrooms. This will release some cold temperatures into the packaged environment and will prolong the freshness of the mushrooms once in transit to its destination.

Once packaged, seal up your box and print out your shipping label from the Foraged Seller Dashboard. We only recommend using UPS Next Day Air in the summer months due to the heat that rapidly deteriorates the mushrooms. In the colder months UPS Second Day Air is a good option as well since the outside air acts as an external refrigerator (if the box is properly ventilated). Any transit longer than 48hrs is a huge risk when shipping fresh mushrooms. The sooner they arrive, the fresher they will be.Once you have entered the package details, print the label and tape it to the box. Drop the package off at your local UPS location right away once you print the label and tape it to the box.Every second counts!

It's extremely important to remember that the weekends are the busiest times for shipping carriers - the rates are inflated and packages are more prone to delays. Only ship your fresh mushrooms Monday through Thursday to avoid any mishaps with the carrier service. This allows plenty of time for the mushrooms to arrive prior to the weekend. Remember: Sunday is a NO TRANSIT day for UPS and all other relevant carriers. Your fresh mushrooms will sit and rot in the warehouse if shipped close to this day of the week. Don't make this mistake.

Wondering how to grow your mushroom business? Or how to sell your wild mushrooms online? Set up shop on Foraged. When you sell your mushrooms online with Foraged, you get free access to our heavily discounted shipping rates through UPS. Foraged has discounted rates of up to 75% less than you’d experience on your own. Our low rates is a big reason why customers love buying wild mushrooms from Foraged shops. To increase your sales, set up your shop today and enjoy all of the powerful tools we offer!

At Foraged, we’re on a mission to empower small-scale food purveyors to grow healthy, sustainable businesses while nourishing everyday people by providing easy access to unique foods.

By supporting Foraged vendors, you're helping to build a better, more sustainable food system for everyone.

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