Peter Watson, owner of Gourmet Woodland Mushrooms, in Pickering, has secured a grant to help people cultivate edible fungus in their own kitchens.

He is developing a pack which will let people grow mushrooms in their fridges.

And he says that while they may sound like something from a student's fridge, these latest examples are edible.

Rare species

Mr Watson said the fridge mushroom is based on a winter mushroom and is perfectly safe.

"We were awarded an innovation grant from the DTI for this because it's the first time the domestic fridge has actually been used for food production rather than growing mould on food which is out of production."

Mr Watson has already diversified into showing landowners how to grow mushrooms on freshly cut logs and is currently testing a system of cultivating rare morel mushrooms on charcoal.