Hamakua Mushrooms are a specialty and exotic mushroom, grown in a mixture of corncob, wheat bran and grandis eucalyptus saw dust. This mixture is called substrate. Mushrooms are carefully cultivated to grow out of a bottle, a method originally developed in Japan. This growing method was chosen after traditional hand planting was found to be too time consuming and labor intensive. Because the process can be automated, bottle cultivation allowed for commercial level production. This process allowed Hamakua Mushrooms to develop their signature Ali mushroom, a 3 and half inch mushroom that has a thick, meaty, one-inch-in-diameter stem. In keeping with sustainable farming methods, Hamakua Mushrooms recycles the substrate and sells to farmers across the island, this rich mixture boosts their crops growth.