BRB w/ Nathan P – Mushrooms from Coffee Waste, Braised White Beans with Parmesan & Shoe Dog
Coffee waste's role in the circular economy, the revered NYT veggie recipe, and an inspiring memoir from Nike's founder (#25).
Hi all,
Welcome back to BRB w/ Nathan P — a weekly newsletter featuring 💥1 Breakthrough, 🥘1 Recipe, and 📚1 Book on food & climate.
Before we get started, here are some highlights of food & climate in the news this week:
Radar shows record-breaking number of flights in one day (Pax News). This is in the same week of the hottest 7-day period on record – how intriguing 🤔
Fungi stores a third of carbon from fossil fuel emissions and could be essential to reaching net zero, new study reveals (Science Daily). The role of mushrooms in saving the planet is underrated – hope you will enjoy another feature on the power of mushrooms below 🍄
💥 Breakthrough: Mushrooms from Coffee Waste
When you have your morning coffee, I bet there is one thing that isn’t on your mind: what happens to the coffee grounds?
Only 0.2% of coffee beans actually make it into our beloved caffeine pick-me-up. The other 99.8% often go to landfill, incineration for energy recovery, or at best composting.
There’s a better use for them growing in popularity: mushrooms.
Coffee grounds are pre-sterilized by the brewing process and are rich in the carbon and nitrogen that mushrooms need to grow. One Belgian start-up PermaFungi is using coffee grounds to grow tons of oyster mushrooms.
Belgium produces over 15,000 tons of coffee each year. These coffee grounds are highly acidic and can kill soil when disposed improperly. Instead, PermaFungi collects this coffee waste from cafés in large plastic buckets by bike to upcycle them.
The process is simple:
🚴 Permafunghi collects 100+ kg of coffee from cafés each day
🪵 They mix the coffee grounds with sterilized straw and wood waste
💉 They inoculate the mix with oyster mushroom spores or liquid culture
📦 They place it in plastic bags to let the mycelium propagate in the dark
🍄 They let the mushrooms grow in light and harvest them when ready
Using these waste streams, Permafunghi produces 2 tons of oyster mushrooms per month. They sell them to local markets and restaurants. They have also started growing mycelium – the “roots” of the mushrooms – to make insulation panels and building materials.
A French company, La Boîte à Champignon, is doing the same thing in Paris. They collect coffee grounds from all over the city – including the top floor of Parliament – and grow the mushrooms in bags in shipping containers. They also make at-home grow kits for sale.
These companies are reviving the centuries old practice of returning nutrients from food scraps and other waste to the soils to grow more food.
Permafunghi and La Boîte à Champignon can save 100s of tons of coffee grounds from landfill each year. We produce more than 20 million tons of coffee grounds each year globally. Circular processes to upcycle this lost resource have global potential.
If you want to learn how grow mushrooms on coffee grounds yourself, check out this resource. Many cafés are happy to dispose of their coffee grounds for free.
Let’s upcycle, one mushroom at a time 🍄
🥘 Recipe: Braised White Beans with Parmesan
This irresistibly creamy, cheesy, and garlicky braised beans recipe from NYT has a rare 5.0 average rating from over 6,000 reviews. Make the recipe at the end of this newsletter to find out why for yourself.
If you make it, please send pictures :)
📚 Book: Shoe Dog
I have been reading Shoe Dog by Phil Knight – the founder of Nike – during my Europe travels over the past two weeks.
It’s a fantastic memoir for any aspiring entrepreneur.
Phil or “Buck” Knight was a Stanford track athlete obsessed with running. After selling encyclopedias and mutual funds, Buck shifted to importing and selling the Japanese Tigers track shoes in the US in the 1960s to compete with Adidas.
As he fights for distribution rights and improving the shoe for an American audience, Buck reveals the chaotic, thrilling, and scrappy nature of launching a company. He dreamed of a company that would stand for great athletics, popularize running, and sponsoring athletes. Nike would later be born and did all three.
Phil Knight largely stayed out of the public eye most of his career, and I enjoyed learning more about his personal story in this book. He embraced the concepts of failing fast, relentless perseverance, and pursuing one’s calling despite the risks.
This book is great story and case study on the iconic American company – highly recommend.
Some favorite quotes as a teaser:
So why was selling shoes so different? Because, I realized, it wasn’t selling. I believed in running. I believed that if people got out and ran a few miles every day, the world would be a better place, and I believed these shoes were better to run in. People, sensing my belief, wanted some of that belief for themselves. Belief, I decided. Belief is irresistible.
Don’t tell people how to do things, tell them what to do and let them surprise you with their results.
Beating the competition is relatively easy. Beating yourself is a never-ending commitment.
Thank you for reading – BRB next week ✌️
I am working on including interactive elements and gathering feedback to make this newsletter more valuable for you. More to come on that soon 😎
🥘 Recipe: Braised White Beans with Parmesan
Source: New York Times Cooking
Ingredients:
¼ cup olive oil
1 small fennel bulb, trimmed, cored and small-diced
1 small yellow onion, small-diced
2 teaspoons minced fresh rosemary or thyme
5 garlic cloves, minced
¼ teaspoon red-pepper flakes, plus more to taste
1 large or 2 small bunches escarole, kale or Swiss chard, stems removed (10 to 12 ounces)
2 (15-ounce) cans cannellini beans, rinsed
2 cups low-sodium vegetable or chicken broth
Kosher salt and black pepper
1 tablespoon lemon juice
½ cup shredded mozzarella (optional)
3 tablespoons grated Pecorino Romano or Parmesan, plus more for serving
Instructions:
In a 12-inch skillet or Dutch oven, heat the olive oil over medium. Add the fennel, onion and rosemary, and cook for 4 to 6 minutes, stirring occasionally, until tender. Add the garlic and red-pepper flakes and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute.
Begin adding handfuls of the greens, cooking and stirring until leaves wilt.
Add the white beans, broth and ¼ teaspoon black pepper, and stir to combine. Bring to a boil, then turn the heat to low and simmer, mashing some of the beans with a wooden spoon, until the liquid has reduced and thickened, 6 to 8 minutes.
Off the heat, stir in the lemon juice, then the mozzarella, if using, and Pecorino Romano. Taste and season with salt and pepper. Divide among shallow bowls and top with more Pecorino Romano. Serve with toasted bread and a dish of red-pepper flakes on the side.
About Me
Hi there! My name is Nathan Paumier - I’m an avid reader, food enthusiast, and climate optimist. I started this newsletter after frequent questions on food tech, reading recommendations, and my secret recipes.
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