There's a fungus among us

[Jared77]

For those of you interested in growing your own http://www.fungi.com/

We're still in limbo but I'm seriously thinking of trying this

 

[digitS']

I think that you might want to go ahead and do it, Jared.

It probably wouldn't be a good idea to jump in with both feet. I mean, you have other uses for your resources. Still, if there is a kit like I once got - it paid for itself and require just nothing from me except a comfortable space in the basement for the box.

The only problem I had with the box was checking often enough to keep track of when the mushrooms would show up. The very earliest were a bit old by the time I discovered them. We still used them, however. And, I weighed a batch and decided that I hadn't lost any $ by the time the mycelium was spent.

We buy a fair amount of mushrooms - they are a good addition to stir-fries . And, I bought a kit from Jung's. They still sell the Portabella Mushroom kits but I remember that the name on the box was Fungi Perfecti. It was about 15 years ago and the website looks really different from when I last visited .

I did a little research on the Portabella after I bought them. Yes, I'd eaten them before but hadn't realized that they are just a larger version of the regular button mushroom. They were quite new at the soopermarket back then. I felt a little "deceived" but it was only by my own ignorance. I don't think Jung's charged any premium price for them or made any outrageous claims.

One thing - you have got to look at them often. When they finally get around to it, they spring up like . . . mushrooms! Overnight.

Steve

 

[journey11]

I did a little research on the Portabella after I bought them. Yes, I'd eaten them before but hadn't realized that they are just a larger version of the regular button mushroom. They were quite new at the soopermarket back then. I felt a little "deceived" but it was only by my own ignorance. I don't think Jung's charged any premium price for them or made any outrageous claims.

Well huh, I never knew that!

One of my favorite pastimes is hunting wild mushrooms. Do the kits and you can save yourself a lot of guesswork! I'd recommend oyster mushrooms. They are delicious and I hear kits for them are very dependable and will continue on. There are only about 4 species of wild mushrooms that are easy to ID for beginners and you really need a mentor to get into it. DH bought me a morel mushroom kit, but we haven't planted it yet. I don't think the conditions up here are good for them, so I think I'll take that $35 kit and find a good spot out in the woods where I usually hunt them...somewhere off the beaten path! Maybe I can count on a good harvest then if my other patches die out. Mushrooms are so finicky about where they want to live and under what conditions they'll pop up and show themselves.

ETA: I sent for their free catalog.

 

[Jared77]

Morel hunting is a REALLY BIG deal here. People take off work to go hunting for them!! I mean I love them too but I can't justify a day off work for them. I know what they go for per lbs but unless I had some private land or hunting lease to go scour them for I wouldn't be skipping work.

Besides I already hunt most seasons as it is, if I added morel season I don't think I'd have a job!

On a more serious note whats the best way to store them? Dehydrate them? Vacuum pack them? Both?

 

[Smiles Jr.]

Spring turkey season is about the same time that the Morels are popping up in the woods. Hunters must be out of the woods by noon so I always hunt for 'shrooms to finish out the day. I love Morels.

 

[Jared77]

My SIL's husband was telling me he heard about a fight that broke out last season because someone didn't use a plastic mesh bag (like one for onions or potatoes) to haul his morel harvest home and someone got upset by that. Apparently its a common practice so that way the spores can be released to the ground as you carry them out?

Im always welcome spring turkey season. Its a change from sitting in a cold blind or trudging through snow chasing cottontails.

 

[Smiles Jr.]

My SIL's husband was telling me he heard about a fight that broke out last season because someone didn't use a plastic mesh bag (like one for onions or potatoes) to haul his morel harvest home and someone got upset by that. Apparently its a common practice so that way the spores can be released to the ground as you carry them out?

Im always welcome spring turkey season. Its a change from sitting in a cold blind or trudging through snow chasing cottontails.

I started turkey hunting in about 1989 when my hunting and fishing buddy and I decided to try it out. We went to a paper company's property in S.E. Ohio. 16,000 acres of paradise. That's all it took for me to fall in love with spring gobblers. Early spring when the forests are starting to wake up after a long winter's nap. Some days in the 70s and some days in the snow.

The people in S.E. Ohio along the Ohio river seem to worship Morels. I have met some folks who tip-toe through the bogs and wet places with brown paper bags in one hand. When you ask them if they're doing any good they almost always stop and delicately reach into their bag to pull out two or three tiny, shriveled up, Morels. Their eyes gleam and they smile from ear to ear with pride for their stash. I guess it was sometime in the late 1990s that everybody switched over to mesh bags to propagate the spores in the woods.

Oh the legendary Morel. Over the years I have heard many stories and folklore about those funny looking trophies.

 

[Jared77]

I hear ya! All I can think about are these hunched over people roaming the woods bags in hand going "my precious....."

 

[MontyJ]

^^Have you been spying on me??^^^

 

[Jared77]

Nope just ran into enough locals to know how they are about those things.