Man, that's ONE yummy mushroom...but I eat mushrooms nearly every day. Can't beat a marinated Shitake on the old George Foreman Grill. ;) 
Food of the Gods.
Posted on 03/09/2006 4:51:06 PM PST by SJackson
It’s time to plant shiitakes I’ve grown shiitake mushrooms for more than 30 years. I love their robust earthy flavor. They’re a perfect compliment to venison. I can rely on my inoculated oak logs to produce lovely brown caps each spring and fall.
Any woodland owner who enjoys mushrooms can easily grow shiitake for personal use. All that’s required are a few tools, some small oak logs and a supply of laboratory produced shiitake spawn.
Start today. Cut a few live oaks three to six inches in diameter. Red, black or pin oak are preferred. White oak works well but is more difficult to inoculate. The trees need to “cure.” Do not buck them into logs until inoculation time in April.
Order shiitake spawn for April or May delivery. The only spawn supplier in the upper Midwest is Field and Forest Products of Peshtigo. For more information call (800) 792-6220 www.fieldforest.net. Beginning shiitake growers will find them very helpful.
Now let’s fast forward to mid-April. I buck my shiitake logs into eight-foot lengths because I use a pulpwood forwarder to handle them. You’ll want them shorter for ease in handling. I place them in a low place I know will be shady and cool during summer. Next to a woodland trail is ideal for ease in inoculation and harvest.
Equipment consists of a portable generator, drill, a fry daddy to heat cheese wax, cotton daubers to apply the hot wax, a bag of shiitake spawn grown on sawdust and a plunger type hand tool designed to insert small portions of sawdust into drilled holes.
The procedure becomes routine. I lay out three logs, start the generator, plug in the fry daddy, drill a row of holes about six inches apart and ¾ inch deep on each log, insert spawn in each and seal with hot cheese wax. I turn the log and repeat until I have three or four rows of spawn in each log depending on the diameter of the log.
A five-pound bag of spawn is enough for about 20 eight-foot logs. When finished, I leave the logs double-stacked on a bed of hardwood leaves close to the ground. I expect to harvest a few mushrooms a year later.
The following September I expect a large crop, or flush, as it is called. I’ll harvest mushrooms for several more years, although each flush will become less until the logs are spent.
I inoculate a few logs each year. That way I always have logs in peak production. I have harvested as many as 150 pounds of mushrooms during a week-long flush. Half that amount is more common.
We often eat fresh shiitake during a flush. We freeze surplus for winter and mid-summer meals. I don’t sell shiitake, but I do supply family and friends during season. I have many friends in spring and fall.
Dick Hall is a tree farmer, wildlife ecologist and outdoor writer from Oshkosh. He may be reached at bucridge@ new.rr.com Visit www.wistiger.com for woodlot updates.
Can't smoke 'em, not planting 'em.
I love shiitakes, I might just try this, though with a bit less effort.
I've never quite understood why humans would voluntarily eat fungus.
No Cream of Shiitake soup for me.
Teach me how to grow a Yellow, Grey, or Black Sponge and we be happy
Sure you can, they're good smoked.
Shiitakes are awesome. To me, they're second to Portabellos.
Man, that's ONE yummy mushroom...but I eat mushrooms nearly every day. Can't beat a marinated Shitake on the old George Foreman Grill. ;) Food of the Gods.
"The immature galls, gathered two to three weeks after an ear of corn is infected, still retain moisture and, when cooked, have a flavor described as mushroom-like, sweet, savory, woody, and earthy. Flavor compounds include sotolon and vanillin, as well as the sugar glucose."
You're just like my friend, Lynn. She's a'skeered of mushrooms...but she's great to go out to lunch or dinner with, because she gives them to me! :)
Some of them will kill you, and minimum wage workers are responsible for making sure the ones sent to your market are not deadly.
Did I mention they are a fungus? I think that's the same thing that can attack your toenails and turn you into a newt.
"I think that's the same thing that can attack your toenails and turn you into a newt."
I can live with that. As long as I don't become a toe-sucking "Newt" or a toe-sucking "Dick Morris," LOL! :)
P.S. In case you didn't know, your GI tract is FILLED TO THE BRIM with all sorts of fungi, flora and bacteria to aid in food digestion. And I won't even mention the millions of skin-eating Dust Mites that are crawling on you THIS VERY SECOND.
You're heading for the showers now, aren't you? Tee-Hee! ;)
And whatever you do...don't look in your mouth under a 'scope light, or swab yourself and swipe the goo onto a Petri Dish. You'll be totally grossed out at all the "fungal" things growing in there.
OK. I'll stop now. ;)
But the solution to this deplorable situation is NOT to eat more fungus!
If corn or potato chips grew in the shower stall, that would be one thing. But they don't. Instead, it's little mushroom wannabes!
That shittakes forever.
LOL
I grew blue oyster once. (Try drilling 750 holes in a dozen logs for the plugs. The phrase "My arm fell off" becomes nearly literal.)
Oysters are a very pretty mushroom, all blue with white gills. In the fall I'd throw the logs in the stream to up the moisture content. Then after a few frosts the little buggers would sprout.
Might try it again this spring if I can find my arm.
I love mushrooms.
I stacked up a bunch of firewood today, including some old logs with some white mushrooms growing on them.
Don't think I'll go out and eat them, though, till I know they're safe :)
LOL! At least you have a good sense of humor about your Fungus Phobia. :)
A full cup of mushrooms is about 20 calories. You'd have to eat a pile of them to equal one slice of bacon.
Now, which would you rather have, almost a quart of fungus in your belly, or one delicious hickory-smoked slice of bacon?
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