Not quite hunting

I was really excited last year to learn about matsutake mushrooms and actually find and cook some from the market. We even went to a mushroom exhibition (which was disappointing at the time). As I've read more, I'd really like to venture out with a group and try to find morels and chanterelles in the wild in the coming spring and fall. Unfortunately, I've got all winter to wait.

While at the University District's farmers' market last weekend, we saw a new vendor named Cascadia Mushrooms. They had two different "grow your own" mushroom kits for shiitake and oysters. Given that my wife hates shiitake (which is a shame since I quite like them) we decided to try out the oyster.

The kits are basically plastic bags with a mixture of organic sawdust that's been inoculated with mushroom spawn, so as to form into harvestable mushrooms under the right conditions. Now, my understanding of mushrooms is limited to how to cook the ones you find at the store and that you do not cook the ones you find outside. I have, however, gleaned a few interesting insights lately. The most basic being that mushrooms are spore delivery mechanisms of the actual mycelium living under the earth. The mycelium can be vast in size and thriving, even if you don't see a single mushroom peek above ground. One of the causes for mushroom formation is environmental change or stress. If a fire wipes out a section of forest, mushrooms are often found springing up afterward. Likewise, if the season changes, mycelium can put up their "feelers" (the bits we eat) and try to spread themselves around.

For my little kit, I would employ the latter case to induce the kit into producing mushrooms. By leaving the kit outdoors in sub-40 degree weather overnight, then bringing it indoors and placing it in a very humid little container, they get the message that spring has arrived and start to produce mushrooms. Then you simply spray daily to ensure humidity and harvest your crop as it grows. Apparently they can go for months at a time and produce multiple pounds of homegrown edibles.

Not quite hunting, but still pretty fun.