'There's a poetic beauty to growing mushrooms'

When Kieran Sockett was working as a chef in his 20s he did not think twice about the mushrooms he was chopping and dicing.

Now, aged 31, he runs what he believes to be Sheffield's first urban mushroom farm, Seven Mushrooms in Neepsend.

Based in a former sauna, Sockett grows a variety of species which are then sold to local restaurants, as well as used to create his own line of food products and herbal extracts.

He said: "There's a constant reminder of their beauty, even when I'm on my hands and knees scrubbing the floor, I look up and I'm on eye-level with this massive cluster of mushrooms which were a quarter of their size three days ago - there's a poetic beauty to it all."

Sockett started the business with two others in 2020, during the first year of the Covid pandemic.

He admitted he "didn't exactly know what mushrooms even were" and had no prior experience of growing them, but was appointed as the salesman because he already had culinary connections from his time in the kitchen.

"I was starting to think I needed to get out of that industry, it wasn't what I wanted to do long-term, and this was a good jumping off point," he said.

"I was brought up with the three mushrooms we have in the supermarket, which are all similar, so the length and breadth of the knowledge to start absorbing was quite alluring."

His two partners have since moved on from the business, leaving Sockett to cultivates his fungal flora alone, with the help of a few volunteers.

"There's a level of peace and meditation to be found in menial, repetitive jobs - I feel a lot better for it," he said.

He said most people do not have a good understanding of fungi, and when he tells people what he grows a lot initially believe he means magic mushrooms.

"I'm not sure if it's just because I have long hair and side-burns or what, but their naivety is plain to see, and I explain they're gourmet varieties from as far as Japan."

He said he believes it is an ever expanding market, with more people becoming vegetarian or vegan and looking for alternative sources of protein to meat.

"Especially compared next to a lot of reformed stuff made in a factory, this to me is more viable morally and health-wise," he said.

But being surrounded by them every day, does he eat a lot of mushrooms himself?

"Not as much as people think I would, but if I ate all my supplies, I wouldn't have much to sell," he said.

Listen to highlights from South Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North.