Hello there! I’m really excited to share my successful experiment! A few months ago, while going through my seed catalog, I saw an ad for a mushroom log. I had never heard of this before and I was intrigued. I thought it seemed like a pretty fun idea, but I didn’t want to wait for it to be shipped and I didn’t want to pay $24.98 for the kit.
Later that day, I was perusing YouTube, like I do…and came across a few Grow-your-own mushroom videos. One guy used store bought button mushrooms to get spores and inoculated his own medium. I was willing to do that. I figured I would only lose a buck thirty-two if the experiment failed.
Still LATER that day I remembered that I had mycelium spore tablets in my vitamin cabinet!!! I had bought them some time ago from a friend who swore the health benefits were worth the hefty price tag. I had taken a few, but I’m just not a good pill taker. I start strong and then forget after about a week.
I thought I might as well try to use them since they were sitting in my cabinet and I would like to see a return on that investment! I put the days coffee grounds in a zip lock bag and poured the contents of one capsule into the grounds. I set it on my refrigerator and forgot about it.
A few weeks later, while cleaning, I saw the ziplock bag and what looked like calcified water marks. It figured the experiment had failed. No big deal.
I was expecting out of town guests and just didn’t want to mess with it, so I dumped the grounds on a couple of straw bales that I had in the garden. (That was another failed gardening experiment). I walked away and forgot about it!
Fast forward a few weeks and we are knee deep in oyster mushrooms!! The first sign was a little scary. I didn’t want a fungus near my tomatoes. I had to know what it was.A quick google search lead me to the most frightening posts ever! Truly, every site I visited warned about the dangers of eating wild mushrooms. I had completely forgotten that this was where the spores were tossed, so I was still unsure of the origin.
I joined a Facebook Mushroom ID group and uploaded pics. I also shared to my own wall and in no time at all, I had very exited friends telling me what a great find that was. After much research, I decided to try them for dinner. With full disclosure, I presented them to my sweet husband and we had the most awkward meal ever. The fear completely overshadowed the tasty mushrooms. We both sat silently waiting. He thought his vision was weird and I was silently freaking out! We came up with a plan. We agreed that we would head to Dallas for treatment at the first sign of any projectile vomiting or liver failure. It’s funny now, but there was a real weird regret and sadness.
That night, I had a nightmare that we were both paralyzed and dying side by side, communicating with blinks and painful smiles. I mumbled that I was sorry and he was mumbling “Ok, google!” I guess he was trying to call 911. Hahaha. It’s hilarious now, but the fear was very real.
It was that morning that I remembered that I had set the spores on those bales!!! Oh sweet relief. I went out to check the garden and saw twice as many oyster mushrooms than had been there the day before. This was getting exciting again!
I couldn’t wait to cook the next harvest! I put a little butter in a pan, added garlic and sliced mushrooms. I let this cook for about 4 minutes until they were soft and color changed to a golden brown. I added my chicken stock (I make this when we harvest our weekly chicken. I leave the bones in and season it to get the best healthy stock).
I set this on medium heat and it already smelled delicious! I put a bit of flour into a bit of milk and added it slowly, to thicken. I added parsley and some salt and pepper and finished it by blending smooth.
This was hands down the best mushroom soup I’ve ever made! sorry, no pics 🙁
Well, now that the fear is over. I have learned quite a lot about these babies. They really are extremely good for you! They lower cholesterol and help fight certain cancers while increasing your bodies ability to fight.
They are full of antioxidants and anti bacterial properties. They contain minerals like zinc, potassium, iron, calcium, phosphorus, and vitamins like B1, B2, C, folic acid and niacin. The iron content in these mushrooms is higher than the iron present in meat – and the potassium in oyster mushrooms is high enough to act as a preventive for heart disease and hypertension.
Never eat a mushroom unless you are certain that it is safe!!!
I’m terrible at writing down recipes. I usually shoot from the hip and use whatever I have on hand, but here is a recipe that I tried and loved. It is the basis for what I made, but I modified it a bit.
Since our mushrooms are growing overnight, I have started to dry and bag them. I slice them and set in oven at 170 for an hour and flip and do the other side for another hour. I try to get as many pans in and do this all at once.
I haven’t made anything from the dried oyster mushrooms, but I did see them for sale and they were surprisingly expensive. So, it looks like I’m getting a nice return on that initial investment after all 🙂
If this has inspired you to try some oyster mushrooms, but you don’t want to gamble on eating wild, you can find some kits for sale here.
Let me know how they grow for you!
Eleanor
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