If life gives you lemons, make lemonade. If life gives you tree trimmings, make … mushrooms.

That’s what Fung Yang came up with in 2008, and today he is the first commercial portobello producer in Hawaii. At his farm in Waimanalo, Yang grows portobello and crimini (young portobello) mushrooms that are prepared in restaurant kitchens all over the island, from Alan Wong’s and Roy’s Ko Olina to Town, 12th Ave Grill and Pacific Club, plus more.

“I studied rubbish and realized that 60 percent of rubbish is organic waste, so you can compost it,” Yang said. “And when you’re composting, mushrooms show up.”

His Small Kine Farm uses a sustainable system set up in old Matson shipping containers, where he cultivates the trimmings into substrate, organic material conducive to growing mushrooms. When the substrate is no longer useful to mushroom production, it is sold as plant fertilizer.

>> More: Waimanalo’s Small Kine Farm fosters a zero-waste growing cycle

“The mushrooms are local, they’re fresh and you can’t beat the quality,” said chef Eric Leterc of the Pacific Club, who utilizes a case weekly.

In Leterc’s kitchen the mushrooms are served classically, in a saute with garlic, herbs and butter, and as an accompaniment to fish. For a morning menu they are prepared in an omelet.

“I keep it simple,” he said. “I like highlighting the flavor of a product that can stand on its own.”

At Roy’s Ko Olina executive chef Darryl Shinogi and sous-chef Randy Bangloy also serve a sauteed mushroom dish, fancied up with a creamy, red-wine garlic butter and served alongside a blue-cheese macadamia nut bread. The mushrooms also turn up in a seafood pasta, loco moco gravy and alongside lamb.

“The No. 1 reason we use the mushrooms is because they’re local,” said Shinogi. But there are other reasons.

“They’re versatile, good for roasting, sauteing — you can even bread them, katsu style. They’re resilient,” said Bangloy. “They can be used for texture, taste and presentation.”

That versatility is part of what drew in Ed Kenney, chef-owner of Town, Kaimuki Superette and Mud Hen Water restaurants, who purchases 10 pounds per restaurant per week.

“At Town we do a roasted mushroom, an Italian side with parsley, thyme, garlic and lemon juice. It’s our most popular side,” he said. “At the Superette we have a revolving menu of vegetable sides, and mushrooms are always there. There’s a shaved raw mushroom salad served with lemon, Parmesan, celery leaf and olive oil. We serve a pickled mushroom with our rabbit terrine at Mud Hen. The mushrooms soak up the sauce like a sponge. It’s unbelievable.”

Kenney said that before Small Kine Farm started up, he used local gourmet mushrooms, but he felt limited by their specialty status.

“You wouldn’t want to puree an Alii mushroom and put it in soup,” he said. “I craved a ‘regular’ mushroom, a less gourmet style with good mushroomy flavor. Yang’s mushrooms are good enough to be the highlight of a dish but also can take a supporting role.”

Kenney was already working with Yang when Small Kine Farm began in 2011. The mushroom venture is an offshoot of Yang’s other business, Oahu Community Recycling, which provides residential and commercial recycling services.

In 2005, when Yang took over the business, a bulk of his clientele was Windward homeowners, including Kenney. City-instituted curbside recycling had not yet been implemented, but Yang knew the service was in the works. He had to find other means to expand his business.

In 2008 he began looking at mushroom production, and the following year he received a USDA research grant.

Yang’s recycling story doesn’t end with mushrooms. After several cycles of mushrooms are harvested from the substrate, cultivated from tree trimmings, it becomes optimal fertilizer for plants. So Yang sells not just mushrooms, but substrate as well.

“Mushrooms are nature’s recyclers. They turn soil into nourishment for plants,” Yang said. “It is 100 percent certified organic fertilizer, and it has so many nutrients, minerals and enzymes.”

Yang says one farming cycle at Small Kine has the potential to generate 2,000 pounds of mushrooms, but any number of disruptions to the sensitive production process affects yield. At this point he’s still learning to master production, and his yield runs from 1,000 to 2,000 pounds. It’s not enough to supply supermarkets, although the mushrooms are sold at farmers markets at Kapiolani Community College, in Kailua and Kakaako.

The farm goes through 10 tons of tree trimmings a month, and while the 120 tons it needs annually might seem like a lot, Yang says it “barely scratches the surface of organic material on this island.”

“I believe organic waste is a natural resource. We can produce something out of it,” he said. “I want to expand this to the neighbor islands and internationally so people can learn to use organic waste.”

ROY’S KO OLINA MUSHROOM LASAGNA

1-1/2 pounds zucchini

1-1/2 pounds yellow squash

1 cup olive oil

1 tablespoon finely chopped garlic

Pinch fresh, chopped thyme

Salt and white pepper, to taste

1 medium red bell pepper, sliced in strips

1 medium green bell pepper, sliced in strips

5 portobello mushrooms, stems removed

Fresh greens

Balsamic vinegar, for drizzling

>> Pistachio sauce:

1/2 cup shelled pistachios, crushed

1/2 cup olive oil

Pinch salt

>> Pesto:

1 bunch fresh basil, stems removed

Olive oil

Pinch salt

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Slice squashes in half lengthwise, then cut halves in thirds lengthwise. Set aside.

In bowl, mix olive oil, garlic, thyme and salt and pepper. Add veggies and toss until well incorporated. On baking sheet, spread squash and bell peppers slices; roast in oven 7 to 10 minutes. Cool.

Meanwhile, make pistachio sauce: In small pot, add pistachios and oil; simmer until oil starts bubbling. Remove from heat immediately. Add salt and cool.

Make pesto: Bring 1 quart water to boil; add basil and pinch salt. Cook 1 minute, then drain and immediately place basil in ice bath. Drain. Squeeze out excess water and place basil in blender, or on cutting board, and finely chop. Place in bowl and cover with oil. Add another pinch salt.

Slice cooled squash and peppers on bias into 3-inch pieces. Slice cooled mushrooms on bias into quarters.

Cut 5 pieces foil. Assemble vegetables on foil: Place mushrooms at bottom, stack with zucchini, then peppers, then yellow squash.

To plate, carefully move assembled veggies onto plate. Top or surround with fresh greens. Drizzle everything with balsamic vinegar, pistachio sauce and pesto.

Adjust seasoning if necessary and serve. Serves 5.

Nutritional information unavailable.