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I looked at mushroom-growing kits for years, wondering whether I could actually grow the fungus in my small kitchen or if it would turn into a science disaster. Recently, I decided it was time to give it the ol’ college try.
 When my kit arrived, it had a wonderful fragrance. (I couldn’t wait to try it!) Photo Credit: Mary Moore  After refrigerating the mushroom patch, I soaked it in water for 24 hours to convince it that the rainy season had begun. Photo Credit: Mary Moore  Within a few days after soaking, the patch began to sprout small mushroom buds. Photo Credit: Mary Moore  The buds formed into mature buds in about a week, and they continued to grow new mushrooms for about 2 weeks before going dormant. Photo Credit: Mary Moore
There were several options available, from kits for growing mushrooms indoors (which would produce mushrooms for several weeks) to plug spawn that gardeners can plant in logs or soil outside (which produce mushrooms at least once a year for several years). There were quite a variety of mushrooms available, too – including portabella, oyster and shitake.
Since this was my first foray into mushroom growing, I wanted to try a fairly easy kit to minimize my mistakes. I bought a shitake mushroom patch from a company called Fungi Perfecti. The Website said that the patch was made from a sterilized medium (substrate) in which the mushroom mycelium was growing. (While I wasn’t exactly sure what this meant at the time, it sounded good.)
When the box arrived, the aroma of the mushroom patch was great. It had a woodsy kind of smell that I associate with leaves breaking down. The kit contained a detailed instruction book with a process map, but I needed some guidance and called the toll-free number on my instruction book. “Julia” from customer service explained to me that I needed to reproduce the shitake mushroom’s native environment to get them started. And if I wasn’t sure if the new mushrooms had started yet, I should refrigerate the bag for a few days to imitate cold weather. If I followed the refrigeration up with a good soak, I’d be able to imitate the rainy season. After that, the mycelium should start producing mushrooms, she said.
Julia also explained that shitake mushrooms are primary decomposers and like fresh, woody material to decompose. As I looked at my kit more closely, I saw that the mycelium on my shitake patch was a white to gray covering and that the patch looked like a solid block of sawdust. The mycelium would break down the sawdust for food and produce mushrooms. The first flush of mushrooms would be small, but by allowing the patch to dry for 2 weeks, then soaking it again, I would be allowing the mycelium to grow. Each flush would get larger until the mycelium was finished.
I couldn’t wait to get started.
With Julia’s information under my belt, I put my shitake mushroom patch into the refrigerator for 4 days. After I pulled it out, I soaked the patch for 24 hours in tap water that had been boiled and cooled. The bag had a small leak and I put it in a pan. (In retrospect, I should have taken the instruction book’s suggestion to soak the patch in a bucket, but it still turned out well.) I then placed the patch in a pan, put bamboo skewers in the top of the patch to support the humidity bag that came with the kit, covered the patch with the bag and placed it on top of the refrigerator. I also had to remove the bag and mist my patch 2-3 times a day each day, but the results were worth all the effort.
In just days, small mushrooms appeared on the surface as little buttons. These quickly grew into full-size mushrooms. Over the next 2 weeks, I harvested 15 mushrooms, which I used in quiche, paella, pasta and several other great dishes. To start, though, I made a simple mushroom in wine sauce, which I served over grilled chicken. Here’s the recipe:
Mushroom Sauce
Ingredients: - 3-5 shitake mushrooms
- 1½ tablespoons butter
- ½ cup white wine
Preparation Using a small saucepan, melt the butter over low heat. Clean the mushrooms by lightly rubbing the top with a wet cloth. Remove the stem and discard. Slice the mushrooms into long strips, and add to the butter. Sauté mushrooms until slightly tender. Lower the heat and gradually add white wine. (Pour the wine onto the mushrooms instead of directly onto the pan to prevent spattering.) Stirring occasionally, simmer until the wine has cooked down. Serve over grilled chicken. This is just one of many wonderful mushroom recipes you can make. So don’t let the idea of growing fungus overwhelm you. With a little commitment, you can grow your own mountain of mushrooms in no time!
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