All my tissue samples have turned to garbage before any mycelium could take hold. Womp. Good news is the spores sprouted and a can transfer those to clean up contamination. I made a bunch of “no pour” agar containers from a few recommendations online. This is where you pour the agar into pp5 plastic containers and then pressure sterilize them. I’m going to try my hand at pouring soufflé cups but the no pour seems easier since it avoids my shitty still air box technique. Ovoids are popping right now but I’m too chicken to try active mushrooms. I found my first wild Enoki mushrooms and took spore prints. They look wildly different from what the store bought ones do. Grown in the dark in long bottles. [ Store bought:
@Kubla Kahn getting a sterile plate is hard in home conditions, but you are getting some practice and trial and error behind you. Have you been keeping notes on your process? I didn't do it purposefully, but I starting making small notes about the garden a couple years ago and it has helped me a lot with my process when I get started each year. We are going mushroom hunting next weekend. We found some new acquaintances who have property with good morel growth. I am excited to go! Time to buy some spores for a grow, though. I don't think I'm ready to try making clones of wild specimens yet. I am going to play with a monotub setup and see how I like that. I did jars in a tub before
Yeah note taking is my downfall. I need to do it for this and gardening. The only place Ive done it enough to be useful is sausage making where I make little notes in the excel sheets I keep my recipes in. I ended up finding 4 or so morels at our place. My first ever. They were as good as advertised. Not some radical different taste. Just well balanced not too mushroomy flavor and texture. I dont know about your part of the country but the morel season is supposed to be over around here (yet everyone on facebook still post lbs of them daily). I always go for the harder options in life. Lions mane is I think considered a intermediate level mushroom to grow and Maitake is more advanced but since I found them I started here first. Id probably start with oyster mushrooms because they are dead easy if you want to have success out of the gate. Hearty growers usually out compete other bacteria as fast as they grow. Most of the diy spawn videos have simple pasteurization techniques where you dont need a pressure canner just boiling your substrate (there is also chemical pasteurization with no heat that is popular). If you live semi country you can probably find wheat straw bales pretty cheap that you can grow tons with. People like using coffee grounds too because the coffee making process pasteurizes it enough to begin with.
@Kubla Kahn awesome that you found some morels nearby! I randomly found some growing in my yard our first spring here, but not again after that. I'm not sure what is in season here, or what we might find. I know they have found huge morels in those woods before though. Yeah note taking can be hard to work in but has proved very valuable. It gives me alerts to check for specific bugs, apply ferts, sow or harvest. I am not yet at the point where everything is intuitive. I am still in the process of planting or creating new stands of perinneals, or trying out new veggie crops. There is a big chunk of plants and tasks I do repeatedly and have down pat, but I'm still doing enough new things that I need reminders. @shegirl yes please! I think you mentioned this recipe before. Didn't you also mention something about little worms in the morels that we should submerge for, or something?
I have and yes! When I am lucky enough for the SO bring some home from hunting he hangs them from a cabinet knob in one of those lingerie washing machine bags (no liquid necessary). The first time I wondered why until the next day when there were little tiny wormy-like things that had fallen on the counter below. Had he not taken that step there would have been no harm but man it was gross. Recipe courtesy of Ina Garten: Ingredients 1 - ounce dried morels, soaked for 30 minutes in 3 cups very hot water 6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts Kosher salt Freshly ground black pepper All-purpose flour, for dredging 1/4 cup clarified butter 1/3 cup chopped shallots (2 large) 1 tablespoon minced garlic (3 cloves) 1 cup Madeira wine 1 cup (8 ounces) crème fraiche 1 cup heavy cream 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice Directions 1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. 2. Lift the morels carefully from the hot water in order to leave any grit behind in the liquid. Rinse a few times to be sure all the grittiness is gone. Discard the liquid and dry the morels lightly with paper towels. Set aside. 3. Sprinkle the chicken breasts with salt and pepper. Dredge them in flour and shake off the excess. Heat half the clarified butter in a large saute pan and cook the chicken in 2 batches over medium-low heat until browned on both sides, 8 to 10 minutes. Remove to an ovenproof casserole. 4. Add the rest of the clarified butter to the pan along with the shallots, drained morels, and garlic. Saute over medium heat for 2 minutes, tossing and stirring constantly. Pour the Madeira into the pan and reduce the liquid by half over high heat, 2 to 4 minutes. Add the crème fraiche, cream, lemon juice, 1 teaspoon salt, and 5. 3/4 teaspoon pepper. Boil until the mixture starts to thicken, 5 to 10 minutes. Pour the sauce over the chicken and bake for 12 minutes, or until the chicken is heated through. To make ahead, refrigerate the chicken and sauce in the casserole and reheat slowly on top of the stove.