New Meadows’ Pre-Packs a Hit with the Trade.

After 6 years of successfully producing and promoting its range of mushrooms in their traditional pre-packs, Meadow Mushrooms have introduced a refreshing new change. New technology has created new packaging that allows for greater convenience, while maintaining shelf-life, mushroom quality and food safety without pushing up unit prices.

The new punnets for the button mushroom ranges are royal blue for White Buttons and forest green for the Swiss Browns. The colour choices not only provide a handy coding for the different mushroom strains, they also help set them off to best advantage when on display.

Another big plus for the new generation punnets is in their shape. They are not only designed to provide better protection for their contents, they also allow for easier and safer handling and stacking, which ultimately contributes to a longer shelf life for the product. The new shape also means that the breathable film overlay sits flatter and offers greater adherence for the labeling.

For the larger browns there have been changes as well. While the Breakfast and BBQ Portabellos are still packed in the traditionally shaped tray for their best protection, the trays are made from the same material as the punnets. The colour coding also follows through, with the green being used to link the larger varieties with their smaller cousins. For the Breakfast Portabello, Meadows have created a distinctive new label depicting a delicious looking morning sunrise breakfast setting and featuring mushrooms and eggs on toast.

For retailer convenience, all 4 Meadows’ pre-packs remain as 250g net and all utilise the existing barcode numbers. With the new packing, both White Buttons and Swiss Browns are now packed 12 per carton outer, while the Breakfast and BBQ Portabellos remain at 8 trays per carton outer.

“The whole idea of the new packaging was to not only provide better protection and display characteristics for the retailers,” says Meadow Mushrooms’ Marketing Manager, Brian Olorenshaw, “but also to reduce shrinkage and waste and ultimately generate more profit at point of sale, and that’s something that obviously benefits all concerned.”

Meadows Swiss Browns

Meadows Swiss Browns are often called Brown Buttons.  Swiss Browns are light brown in colour and  have a much stronger flavour than the White Button; often described as 'nutty'

Since their release both the appearance and delightful flavour has led to them becoming a real favourite with both professional and amateur chefs.  More and more people are beginning to appreciate the wonderful flavours and versatility of the brown varieties.

Meadows Portabellos

The more mature version of the Swiss Brown is the large flat brown Meadows Portabello.  This is a button mushroom that has been left to grow and develop to maturity.  It has a brown cap with clearly visible dark gills, and has a much stronger flavour than the Swiss Brown button.  It is particularly suited as a meat substitute for meatless meals, stuffing and grilling and for any recipe calling for that rich full mushroom flavour.