What is the most widely cultivated mushroom in the world?

The button mushroom is the world’s most widely cultivated mushroom.

The button mushroom is the immature white form of Agaricus bisporus, also known as the common or cultivated mushroom. The same species can be sold under different names as it matures or changes color: brown immature mushrooms are often called cremini, while mature brown specimens are marketed as portobello.

That relationship causes a frequent quiz mix-up. Portobello is not a separate species from the button mushroom; it is a mature form of Agaricus bisporus. Oyster mushrooms and shiitake are important cultivated species, but they are not the same mushroom and are not as widely produced globally.

Commercial cultivation was described scientifically by French botanist Joseph Pitton de Tournefort in 1707. Pure-culture spawn developed at the Pasteur Institute in Paris in 1893 helped make production more reliable. The familiar white variety arose from a chance mutation found in Pennsylvania in 1925 and was then propagated commercially.