Culinary Mushrooms
We pride ourselves on our commitment to sustainability and zero-waste principles, and our collaborations with local farms, small businesses, and restaurants enable us to implement sustainable practices, such as recycling resources and repurposing waste streams in a closed-loop system.
We cultivate various culinary and medicinal mushrooms year-round. 10 types are for cooking, and 4 for medicinal use. Unsuitable culinary mushrooms are dried, powdered, or donated to local organizations.
We are actively seeking new partnerships with chefs who share our passion for sustainability and local sourcing.
ELEVATE YOUR DRINK MENU
With Golden Gills functional mushroom tinctures in a range of settings such as:
Cocktail Bars, Cafes, Juice/Smoothie Bars, Spas, Wellness Centers
Our mission goes beyond cultivating culinary mushrooms; we also craft highly potent functional mushroom extracts celebrated for their health-regulating benefits.
Our tinctures offer a premium add-on to lattes, teas, juices, smoothies, traditional cocktails and non-alcoholic beverages.
Enhance your drink offerings with lasting wellness options that attract customers and build your reputation for innovative menu choices.
Tasty & On-Trend: Functional mushrooms are popular in wellness trends and easy to integrate into existing menus, or to create new drinks.
Customizable & Easy: Morning coffee, afternoon pick-me-ups, or social evenings with friends, these tinctures work with most every menu item.
Whether it's adding a creative twist to a cocktail, crafting a unique mocktail, or enhancing an existing old menu favorite, our tinctures offer versatility and a touch of the extraordinary.
By considering Golden Gills, you can expect:
Top-tier Cultivated Gourmet Mushrooms
We believe that local food tastes better, and we are excited about the potential to collaborate with chefs in the Chicago metropolitan area to enhance menus with our mushrooms.
Fresh harvest and delivery of mushrooms in a hyper-local 100 mile radius.
We proudly use sustainable sourcing methods, utilizing agricultural and forestry byproducts as our main growing mediums. Our mushrooms are grown in individually controlled and monitored growing rooms.
Discounts on Standing Orders and Flexible Delivery Options
At Golden Gills, we understand the unique needs of chefs and restaurants. That’s why we offer exclusive discounts on standing orders, helping you maintain a steady supply of our premium mushrooms and tinctures.
With flexible delivery options, we work around your schedule. Plus, we guarantee individual attention to meet your specific culinary demands, making us a reliable partner in your kitchen.
(That's Butters, he's retired.)
Strong Community Ties and Support for Local Charitable Organizations
We're dedicated to delivering premium mushrooms while championing local communities and sustainable practices.
Cooperating with local chapters of Food Not Bombs and Crystal Lake Food Pantry help sustain food systems and elevate access to nutrient dense food.
Donation of spent substrate to hyper-local farms to support many areas of their cultivation operations.
Our Farm
Golden Gills cultivates our mushrooms indoors in a repurposed 5,000 square foot facility in Wauconda, IL.
In this space, we also have a dedicated clean room, incubation room, and tincture production room where we perform our ultrasonic extraction and bottling. Our flex spaces oversee substrate production, mushroom dehydration and processing procedures.
Additionally, our substrate consists of a mix of kiln dried red oak sawdust and organic soy hulls. in all areas of our cultivation and beyond, we make every attempt to source as local as possible, and with trusted and reputable vendors.
We source our local organic supplementation from Meadowlark Farm & Mill and our friends at MycoLabs.
Community partners
Elawa Farm Foundation
Partnership in a year-round community CSA and fresh market, along with culinary value-added products, events and sourcing for seasonal dinners.
Elawa Farm Foundation is steward to a historic farm that enriches the greater Lake County community as a center for experiential learning to broaden access to education, nutritious food, and our local food system.
Wild Trillium Farm
22 week CSA serving three counties
Wild Trillium Farm cultivates natural, sustainably grown and nutrient rich vegetables, herbs and flowers for our community.
These three women farm in coexistence with Natural Farm Stand in Richmond, Illinois. This land has been chemical free since 1960, Certified Naturally Grown since 2003, and both farms are committed to continuing these practices.
Crystal Lake Food Pantry
At Golden Gills, we’re committed to giving back to our community by donating excess harvests to the Crystal Lake Food Pantry.
The CLFP has been incredibly gracious in receiving our mushrooms, and they go the extra mile to educate recipients on how to incorporate these nutritious ingredients into their meals.
Together, we’re helping to combat food insecurity and promote healthy eating in the greater community we serve.
Our most popular offerings
Location
Golden Gills HQ
429 W Liberty St. Wauconda, IL 60084