mushroom farming...



a friend of mine gave us a mushroom growing kit for christmas this year. she bought them from a local farmer who sells them at the market. i've always been fascinated with mushrooms, and love to eat them (and make them).  i was a little unsure when she gave me the kit because i tend to kill off everything that grows in my house (plant wise i mean of course). of course she handed it to me i stuck it on a shelf and promptly forgot about it for a week. oops. i started watering it more regularly after that, and that is pretty much all it needs... plenty of air, soft light, moisture, and cool temperature. pretty much nature provided most of that, i just added the water. it is essentially a plastic bag filled with all the mushroom needs otherwise, mimicking it's natural environment. there are holes in the bag, like holes in bark that the mushrooms force themselves through... literally, it sounds like a loud pop! when it happens. they come through as white balls first but then started changing to this greenish grey color which i of course mistook for mold. luckily, they are suppose to look like that! they are silver oyster mushrooms and quite beautiful. i haven't eaten one yet. i'm not exactly sure when to harvest it? the one above is the biggest so far. i don't think i have ever cooked oyster mushrooms myself. any suggestions? maybe i should make one that looks like it too!

2 comments:

Melissa Crowe said...

We farmed some mushrooms once, too--at some point they started to get a bit dry/hard, so we may have waited to long to harvest, but they still tasted good when we cooked 'em up!

Cary said...

we tried the first batch and they were really good... i roasted them and mixed them with roasted sweet potatoes. i have three more big bunches to figure out.