We had the pleasure of meeting with Quentin Declerk, one of Eclo's co-founders in their subterranean production site beneath Brussels. Producing over 6 tonnes of mushroom monthly, and a variety of baby herbs in vertical farms, Eclo is making the best Bruxelles' underground spaces. Located in the heart of the city, their farm consists of an unconventional 10,000 sqm underground cellar, offering the ideal conditions for growing 6 different edible mushroom variety.
Since 2016, Eclo has been working to develop recipes that replace grains in exotic mushroom substrates – generally made from a wood base, grains, water and mycelium. They partnered with two organic Brussels breweries: Brasserie Cantillon and Brasserie de la Senn and in 2021, they partnered with Colruyt Group and Bon Pain to recycle their organic bread waste into black pearl, oyster, king oyster, nameko, shiitake and maitake mushrooms.
Convinced that the a good substrate is the key to a tasty mushrooms, Eclo just raised €4.7M to create a high-tech circular organic mushroom substrate factory with the hope to reach an annual production of 7,000 tons of mushroom substrate from recycled organic waste by 2026.
As substrate production is very susceptible to contamination, the factory will be equipped with a high-tech automated production line for the most critical parts of the process. This is to avoid handling, which could increase the risk of contamination of the substrate. The factory will be powered by 1,500 sqm of photovoltaic panels. These infrastructures should generate 20 more new jobs by 2026, in addition to the 12 people currently employed for its Brussels operation.
Another great example of transforming waste into gold with a little mushroom innovation.
Check them out:
⌭ @eclo.farm
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