What is mushroom bacon? Despite sounding rather oxymoronic, it is a product made of mycelium and flavoring that aims to recreate the texture and flavor of bacon. One company that is pioneering this product is myForest foods. Their product is called Mybacon, and is produced in partnership with Ecovative technologies, who produce the mycelium.
Mycelium is the tiny roots that are produced by mushrooms. These roots are produced in massive warehouses in layered farms, and then separated from the mushrooms. This mycelium then turns into products such as eco-friendly packaging and bacon. From there the mycelium is bound into bacon-shaped strips and combined with coconut oil and some other seasonings.
Now to the really important question, how does it taste? After eating a slightly unhealthy amount, I can conclude that it is pretty good. The end result looks like bacon and tastes similar to bacon found at a chain restaurant. It has that signature slightly crunchy, slightly-chewy texture, with a salty and oily taste and could easily function as a bacon substitute.
This is not a completely interchangeable replacement for bacon, it is still mushrooms and so it cooks differently.
I personally like to cook my bacon just so that it is food safe and with the tiniest amount of crunch, but Mybacon basically only has one texture that can be achieved, crunchy, but not burnt. Before this cooking point it tastes like mushrooms, and after that point it just tastes burnt.
My final critique of their product is the shape and packaging of the strips. To get an even cook, I often had to manually undo several twists and scrunches in the strip, and they would sometimes tangle together and not want to separate.
Cooking gripes aside, it is an overall good product, that is bacon adjacent, but it is good enough for me to consider never eating bacon again. There is still one major hurdle and that is the price. Mybacon cost $9.99 per 6oz or $1.67 per oz compared to regular bacon at $6.49 per 12oz or $0.54 per oz. Mybacon is over 3 times the price per oz.
In terms of nutritional differences per two slices. Mybacon has 420 mg of sodium, and 3g of fat, and 60 calories per serving. Regular bacon has 270mg sodium, 8g of fat, and 80 calories per serving. Overall the mushroom bacon has a bit more sodium, but a bit less total calories and fat per serving.
Mushroom bacon offers a more eco-friendly option to produce bacon-like food.