Mushrooms have been absolutely everywhere for years. Psychedelic therapy has exploded in popularity, more and more foodies are collecting spores, and the fungi are popping up in everything from supplements to drinks and even cereal. It seems the mushrooms are always at it, and this time, they’re popping up in pesto: namely Smallhold’s new umami sauce, which aims to be as versatile as mushrooms themselves.
Gander’s design for the brand immediately grabbed our attention with its cute toadstool shape straight out of a late 20th century woodland fantasy. The red lid pops out with cute speckles, and the shape of the label finishes the image with a simple, curvy white stem. The rest of the branding keeps it simple, with timeless serif and a cute little shroom icon tucked into the corner.
We made a pesto. Out of mushrooms!
Say hello to an (addictive!) unexpected shortcut to umami.
Smallhold grows mushrooms in communities around the country in state-of-the-art indoor facilities. Our mission is to help people reconnect with their food, environment, and farmers.
“Pesto” is derived from the Genoese verb pesta, which means to grind or crush down.
Our mushroom pesto uses a blend of our organic mushrooms that are ground and cooked down with roasted aromatics, balsamic vinegar for a touch of acid, and brightening spices in oil. We wanted to highlight the flavor of our mushrooms in a familiar format that delivers on all of that umami and mushroom flavor—without all the cooking. Use it in many different ways like pasta, sandwiches, dips, ramen, pizza, and more.
At Smallhold, we absolutely hate throwing stuff away. Especially mushrooms. As we grew our business we realized our mushroom trimmings pile growing super quickly. Thus, our dehydration program was activated.
Mushroom Pesto fights food waste, by dehydrating and using surplus or imperfect mushrooms from our farms.
The design for Mushroom Pesto is all about the mushroom and what better container than a mushroom-shaped tub? To bring to life the concept of the mushroom stem, we designed the front of the packaging as a silhouette of a mushroom stem. Our goal was to create an icon design that lets the product speak for itself.
