Vegan bacon, made right in Green Island

GREEN ISLAND, N.Y. (NEWS10) -The world's largest mycelium farm is operated by MyForest Foods. CEO and Cofounder, Eben Bayer, gave NEWS10's Anthony Krolikowski a tour, explaining how mycelium becomes bacon.

"MyBacon's connected to a desire to treat pigs well but also bring consumers delicious, whole protein. It's grown with just a simple ingredient," said Bayer.

"It starts out as a slab of mushroom material: about a 100 foot long, two inches thick. We grow that in about a week, two weeks. We actually squish it into what we call a mushroom belly, like a pork belly. We slice it up like stripes of bacon, we salt it, we bake it, we add in a little fat [organic coconut oil] and a little flavor because there's no fat in mycelium and a little flavor and that's the whole product."

MyBacon was first available in 2020 through a single production line that created just two packs of mycelium strips per week. Since opening its newer facility a couple of months ago, production has tripled and the food is being shipped to more than 800 locations.

So, what does MyBacon taste like? NEWS10's Anthony Krolikowski thinks it tastes just like bacon and is even a bit better.

And as the mycelium continues to grow, so does the MyBacon recipe. "The flavor system, the mycelium, has stayed almost the same," described Bayer. "But how we process it, how we get the flavor in, how thickly we cut it, how long we back it to adjust the moisture has changed."

The following chart features some local stores that sell MyBacon: