Saturday, June 19, 2010

'shrooms

Back in March, one of my Facebook friends sent me a link to this video:



Naturally, it was something of a revelation. Mushroom umami! Pseudobacon! I've been wanting to try this technique ever since, but the price of shiitakes at the grocery store was a bit prohibitive.

Then I realized, hey! I could grow my own mushrooms, right? I was up for a little experiment. So off I went aGoogle-ing to research shiitake kits and discovered that mushrooms grown on logs are far superior in taste to those grown on those sawdust blocks. A bit more hunting and I found this place. I ordered myself a kit, envisioning a cute little log I could keep on my countertop in a porcelain saucer while I patiently waited for the little shroomies to sprout. Instead I got this...

It looks like a turd.

I'll keep you updated.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

My grandfather used to grow shiitake mushrooms in neatly stacked logs outdoors, and they didn't look anything like that! He drilled holes in each log out of which the mushrooms grew.

Lydia said...

I think it looks more like a very toasted marshmallow. My poops are never white.

Bubblehead Les. said...

I think I'd rather spend the money at the Big Bird or Heinen's and experiment in my kitchen. That thing looks like a Tootsie Roll I found on my Devil Strip this spring. Must have been there since Halloween.

Mike W. said...

That looks kinda nasty.

Stick with real bacon.

doubletrouble said...

Breda-
FWIW- wild mushrooms mostly taste meaty, & one of the best I've found is the common two-color bolete; it's probably growing around your house right now.
I give them the deep fry/saute @ high heat treatment which suits my taste.
If you cooked the crap out of them w/salt, I'm sure you'd get a bacony thrill- I'm gonna try it next batch I gather.
Get a mushroom book, but boletes are easy to ID- they all have a sponge-like bottom- NO GILLS! They grow on the ground, not on trees.
The boletus family has only one 'shroom that will make you ill, but it won't kill you. AND, it had a bright red underneath- easy to avoid.
Have fun...

DixieLaurel said...

Eeks, looks like an old moldy loaf of bread. Good luck with mushroom farming.

wv: ducks--goes good with wild mushrooms!

OrangeNeck said...

Why don't I just send you a few packages of shiitake mushrooms? They ear waaaaaaaay cheaper here where I live.

BUFF_dragon said...

if anyone wants to come pick it up, I can hook you up with the same shit that Campbells buys for their mushrooms......
straight out of the asses of Thoroughbreds.... gotta pile of it in front of my barn....