ENOKI HAS THE TASTE OF SUCCESS

San Marcos firm fills a mushroom niche

By Diane Lindquist, STAFF WRITER

   SAN MARCOS - Enoki mushrooms, the whitish ones with the long, thin stems and tiny caps at the top, increasingly are being consumed by Americans incorporating foods from foreign lands in their cuisine.

Tossed raw in salads or tucked into sandwiches or added at the last minute to stir fry, the lelacate fungus has become a staple in pricey restaurants or supermarkets in much of the country.

They used to be imported from Japan, where they were first discovered growing on mountains along the snow line, but now, with few exceptions, all the enokis eaten in the United States are cultivated in a 75,000-square-foot building in this North County community. To be continued.