[Fwd: Re: seeking home-grown edible mushrooms]

[Mushroom <mushroom@moscow.com>]

I should have posted this for the whole list. There are
probably hundreds of you looking for a unique Christmas
gift.

Don

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Re: seeking home-grown edible mushrooms
Date: Wed, 16 Oct 2002 08:59:21 -0700
From: Mushroom <mushroom@moscow.com>
Organization: Mushroom the Journal
To: Brent Capener <cape@moscow.com>
References: <000c01c274ca$ee61d540$d3f2f5c7@biff>

> Brent Capener wrote:
> 
>      Last year during the pre-Christmas-shopping
> commercial blitz there was an occasional ad for a
> "mushroom log".  This is a piece of wood that, after being
> soaked in water and stored in a dark place for a short
> period of time, would sprout a layer of edible 'shrooms'.
> Supposedly, this could be repeated many times.
>       Has anybody had any experience with and/or know how
> to obtain one of these?

"Many times" means, for all practical purposes, two, and the
second "flush" will give you fewer mushrooms than the first.
The big reason to buy a mushroom kit is for the novelty of
it, because you probably can get more mushrooms per dollar
by going to Safeway.

That said, by far the easiest mushroom to grow is the
Oyster, and you also get more flavor from them than you do
from the common button mushroom. Shiitake also are easy to
grow.

The common button mushroom is raised commercially in big
trays of sterilized horse manure, so when you buy a kit to
grow them at home you can figure out what you're getting.

Rather than buying from some catalog house, it would make
sense to order from a company that produces mushroom spawn
and uses its own to make kits. One good one is Fungi
Perfecti of Olympia, Wash. Phone is (360) 426-9292, web page
is www.fungi.com.

Don Coombs