Growing Mushrooms
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Canadian winters are long - aka how can I pass the time until spring?
I have been an aspiring gardener for some time now, however the results have not always reflected the effort. I think that when you live in a location where the growing season is very short and unpredictable it can either frustrate you into giving up, or make you dig in your heels and try your hand at anything (I’ll leave you to guess which category I fall into).
For example, when I lived in Southwestern Ontario (the banana belt of Canada) it was easy to grow things - I grew trees from maple leaf tree keys, I split plants on a regular basis and exchanged varieties with other gardeners and I even inadvertently led to the expansion of my parent’s garden from a 6’x6’ plot to a 10’x 150’ plot (I asked if I could expand the garden a bit and they said sure - a response that they may have regretted later!). In other words it was easy.
Over 2 months all I got from my chestnut mushroom grow kit was an infestation of fruit flies.
Fast forward to moving to Calgary, Alberta where the growing season is short and it can snow in any month of the year (and I’ve seen it!). It’s a challenge to grow things here (not impossible, but challenging). I’ve tried my hand at a lot of different flowering plants and vegetables with varying degrees of success. I found a great zucchini plant that is more of a shrub and good for container gardens - the harvest was plentiful and I’d love to find those seeds again to repeat the experience. On the other hand I’ve tried growing potatoes in sacks and gotten wonderful flowering plants only to find that my harvest was enough to make home fries for one breakfast (very deflating and disappointing).
So, when a friend mentioned her great success growing mushrooms indoors with a kit - I was intrigued and quickly jumped in. I purchased several kits (chestnut mushrooms and pink oyster mushrooms) and started the growing process once we moved. Now I have since found out that chestnut mushrooms can be a bit more challenging and need to be kept in a humid environment (which I diligently misted and tried to maintain), I got several false starts and then a great crop of fruit flies, so after two months of trying that box had to be abandoned.
Success with round 2
Pink Oyster Mushrooms fruiting in bottom left corner of box opening.
I was not to be beaten by a mushroom kit box, so I redoubled my efforts and started a pink oyster mushroom kit - I covered the box with a loose plastic bag and kept it well misted (4 - 5 times a day).
Each morning I would look to try and see any sign of fruiting (that’s the technical term for mushroom sprouting), but no luck - 7 days in and still no sign (granted the website says it can take up to 30 days, but I was eager to see some sign.
The mushrooms grew very quickly once they started to fruit.
Well on day 8 as I was misting the box and looking closely in the middle of the cutout - I noticed something out of the corner of my eye - gloriously delicate pink coloured nubs protruding from the edge of the plastic. Hooray! My mushrooms had started to fruit - I was so excited that I quickly texted Shelley a photo to show that I do in fact have a fungus thumb (if there is such a thing).
The next day I awoke with great anticipation to see what growth had taken place over the 24 hours - I was not disappointed - these babies really take shape once they start. The beautiful pink hue was opening up to a defined cap and wonderful gills along the stem. There is something so very satisfying about growing your own produce - seeing it grow to maturity and harvesting it to use in your own recipes.
Maturing Mushrooms and Harvesting
Harvested pink oyster mushroom with delicate gills.
I continued to mist my mushroom beauties and I scoured the website for information on when to harvest - cap almost fully open, but still a bit rounded at the edges otherwise it gets tough and dry.
Well after several weeks of misting multiple times a day and checking for growth with this grow kit I was ready to start harvesting pink oyster mushrooms - as I mentioned when the caps start to flatten, but are still slightly rounded at the edges is the perfect time for harvesting. It’s pretty easy to harvest them - just pick them from the substrate and either use immediately or place in the fridge in a sealed container with a moist paper towel for several days. I did both and had great results.
The lovely texture of the ridges and the subtle pink hue of the caps and veins were just too much to resist - I started posing my mushrooms in the best light to try and capture the unfolding bounty.
Pre-breakfast photoshoots became the norm around our house and once I started harvesting clumps of mushrooms there was no stopping me. Now food photography is not my forte at all, but I certainly enjoyed trying to capture the delicate beauty of the pink oyster mushrooms.
Harvested clump of pink oyster mushrooms.
I wasn’t going to let mine linger in the fridge after working at this gig for several months - I wanted to taste my mushroom harvest, so I took a clump of mature mushrooms (I love all the alliterations you can make with magnificent mushrooms and fantastic fungus) and started to scour the internet for recipes and preparation/cooking tips.
Mushroom Recipes
Pink Oyster Mushroom bacon.
I read up about the best way to cook them to really bring out the flavour and there is a recipe for “oyster mushroom bacon” which is basically pan frying in butter or oil for 5 -7 mins on medium heat (do not move mushrooms around during cooking - the recipe was very insistent about this instruction) and then flip and cook the other side for 5 - 7 mins (again no moving them around during the cooking - more insistent instruction). They will turn from pink to a whitish colour and then a lovely golden brown as they cook.
The mushrooms are a delicate and yet very hardy/meaty texture (if that makes any sense - i.e., they are not fragile) and after having a final delightful photoshoot with my mushrooms I prepared them for breakfast.
I used the above recipe for a breakfast egg and “mushroom bacon” sandwich with a touch of pesto - we’re working on having savoury breakfasts in order to flatten our glucose curve (see this blog post) and so this fits in very well with that strategy. It was delicious and we both enjoyed the fruits of our labours immensely.
Savoury breakfast of mushroom bacon and pesto on toast.
Other Recipes and an Update
Second fruiting of pink oyster mushrooms seems like an even bigger batch as the whole front of the substrate is covered with them..
I did find some other recipes to try like a mushroom soup and mushroom risotto, but I must say that so far I enjoyed the mushroom bacon the most. Primarily because the meaty texture works well with pan frying. I am looking forward to giving some other recipes a try.
I wasn’t expecting to include this update at the time of posting this blog, however once I completed the harvest of my first fruiting of the pink oyster mushrooms, I followed the instructions and continued to mist the substrate. The instructions indicate that you will often get a second fruiting within 30 days and quite possibly a third fruiting (this usually requires immersing the substrate in water to rehydrate it).
I was totally surprised to get a second fruiting within a week of finishing the first harvest and the there were hints of pink oyster mushrooms all over the substrate - much more than the first fruiting. I’m continuing to mist and watch my harvest grow - very satisfying to feel I have found something that is turning my thumb green!
Will I try more mushroom kits?
Well I still have another chestnut mushroom kit that I want to try and see if I can get it to fruit this time. I think that I have a better handle on the conditions that work well for the mushrooms, so I’ll give it another try. For anyone who is interested, I purchased my mushroom kits from Circular Harvest, a company located in British Columbia and the kits are about $30 Cdn each.
The pink oyster mushrooms are still fruiting with this second batch, so there are more delicious meals to come from these and then I should be able to get them to fruit a third time if I’m lucky.
I would say that the results have been pretty positive and it’s a fun activity that yields delicious results, so I will be purchasing more kits - maybe lion’s mane next time or blue oyster mushrooms. (I did in fact purchase a four pack chestnut, pink oyster, blue oyster and lion’s mane mushrooms, so we’ll be growing them well into the New Year).
Have you ever tried growing mushrooms or any other produce? Any luck? Any tips? Any favourite recipes you’d like to share with me? I’d love to hear from you in the comments below or you can drop me a note by clicking on the Connect With Me button.
Crop of pink oyster mushrooms.
I hope you’ll come back soon, share a cuppa, relax and enjoy more of my musings.
