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FACT: Yes, portobellos were a marketing invention, but who came up with it?

By Raquel Feltman

You may already know that mushrooms, cremini, and portobello are all the same species of mushroom. But there’s an unsolved mushroom mystery at the center of this food marketing story that might surprise even mushroom fans.

First, let’s get the easy part out of the way: Almost all mushrooms grown, sold, and consumed in the U.S. are of a species called Agaricus bisporus. The species actually grows naturally in the wild as a slightly brown mushroom, like a cremini you can buy at the store. The “classic” white buttons that have become so ubiquitous in America are the result of a random mutation. In 1925, a mycologist named Louis Ferdinand Lambert saw a small calcareous monster in his growing area in Pennsylvania and decided to propagate it. He called her “Snow White” and how she grew so evenly and Prolifically, he took the nation by surprise. In fact, every white button mushroom you’ve ever eaten descends from this happy accident.

This coincided perfectly with 20th-century American obsessions with pristine, sterile-looking foods, which helped Snow White dominate the market and push brown products. Agaricus bisporus on the sidelines. That same impulse for uniformity prevented us from enjoying bispore which surpassed the shape of the neat little button. Whether white or brown in color, mushrooms of these species will eventually come to have wide, flat caps and prominent gills. That was too rustic for mid-century American sensibilities.

Then came the 1970s and 1980s, when counterculture hippies rebelled against processed foods. Suddenly, those big, scaly, overgrown versions of the same mushroom were rebranded as earthy, natural, healthy “portobellos.” She’s not like other girls! She really is dirty aim.

But that’s where things get mysteriousbecause no one really knows who invented the name “portobello” or started selling them as such. There is not even a clear history of the origin of the name (which is No an Italian word). It just… appeared in print in 1986, fully formed.

Listen to this week’s episode to learn more about Rachel’s attempts to solve this fungal conspiracy, plus: how Quaker efficiency brought mushroom growing to the US, how Rachel’s Italian relatives perfected it, and the best way to forage for your own delicious mushrooms without dying.

FACT: Bees have a wilder sex life than you think

Presenting Dr. Prendergast Kit

This week’s episode features special guest (and fan of the show!) Dr. Kit Prendergast, aka The Bee Babette. She is an Australian wild bee scientist who has published more than 80 scientific papers on bees, including two descriptions of new species.

Kit is also a passionate science communicator and, just as The Lorax speaks for the trees, Bee Babette speaks for the bees. Kit combines performing arts with science and has a show about pollination called “The Birds and the Bees.” She joined us this week to talk about the surprisingly spicy science of bee sex!

You can find more of his work on his Patreon and Instagram.

FACT: Regular pet dogs are better at finding invasive lanternfly eggs than trained human experts (and they look cuter doing it)

By Sarah Kiley Watson

Spotted lanternflies arrived in Pennsylvania in 2014 and have spread to more than 17 states in just 10 years. These cute polka dot insects suck sap and leave a “honeydew” that attracts wasps and produces soot, making them an absolute threat to vineyards and fruit trees.

Most of us have spent the last few years diligently stomping on any spotted lanternfly that crosses our path, but the real solution has been to sleep on the couch all the time. A recent Virginia Tech study took 182 volunteer dogs of various breeds (German shepherds, Labrador retrievers, Boston terriers, and even miniature poodles) and spent several months training them to detect lanternfly egg masses. The results were surprising, both in controlled tests and in the open field. Another study found that pet dogs can even outperform trained human specialists by more than 2 to 1. Hooray for citizen science!

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