All Nature’s Fynd products are based on this fungus, which the founders named “Fy.” The company name is a play on the word “find,” symbolizing the spirit of exploration that drove the search for extremophile life forms. The “y” that replaced the “i” in Fynd stands for Yellowstone.
It took much trial and error to get the fermentation process down, but the production process at the Nature’s Fynd factory on Chicago’s South Side is surprisingly simple.
Fy fungus is fed a growth-inducing mixture of water, sugar and salt, then is transferred into trays to form sheets of usable product. The mixture is described as similar to sourdough starter, and unless something goes terribly wrong, the company should not need to harvest any additional Fy from its source in Yellowstone.
The sheets can be processed into a meat substitute, Fy milk, and even Fy flour.
The first four products that Nature’s Fynd is marketing are breakfast patties in original and maple flavors, and both original and chive-and-onion cream cheese, available in Mariano’s grocery stores around the Chicago region. This is just the beginning, as the company has done extensive research-and-development and has numerous other products in the queue.