Do you need some inspiration for how to serve and enjoy your home-grown oyster mushrooms?
You've come to the right place!
How many mushrooms will fruit depends on several factors: how well the mycelium was dispersed throughout the straw, how much time the mycelium had to grow and gather nutrients, and how moist the fungus has been kept during the fruiting period.
So this means you may have to adjust your expectations around how many mushrooms you will have to cook with. We've tried to give you some suggestions that cater for all occasions.
One or two mushrooms
Add to a pizza
Make mushroom-on-toast canapés:
- Lightly toast two slices of bread on one side only.
- Cut your mushroom(s) into thin slices.
- Cover the untoasted sides of bread with the mushroom slices
- Add flavourings as the mood takes you e.g. marmite, Worcestershire sauce, cheese etc.
- Put the slices under a grill for a few minutes until the mushrooms have browned.
- Cut into small triangles, arrange on a plate, serve and enjoy!
Three or four mushrooms
Add to a stir fry
Add to a risotto
Five or six mushrooms
Recipe developer and food stylist Mica Francis-Angel kindly developed some recipes just for our fungus labs – click the links below for the full details.
Loads of mushrooms!
Mushroom soup
(This has been adapted from a BBC Good Food recipe)
- Slice your mushrooms thinly, or chop them into even smaller bits, depending on how you like your soup.
- Chop up a small onion and some garlic.
- Melt about 45 g of butter and add the onion and garlic, then cook until soft.
- Add the mushrooms and cook for about three minutes on a high heat.
- Sprinkle over a tablespoon of flour and mix well.
- Pour in 500 ml of chicken or vegetable stock and bring to the boil; add a bay leaf and seasoning and leave to simmer for ten minutes.
- Get some small bowls and ladle out enough for everyone – enjoy!
No mushrooms
If your fungus lab did not successfully produce any mushrooms, then don't worry, we hope you still had fun with your fungus! And you can always pick up some mushrooms from the local shop...
Or try a mushroom-growing kit, where a lot of mycelium preparation has been done for you. Visit our page on growing your own fungi for advice.