Do you love mushrooms-do you wonder how they are grown? Well the Master Gardeners want to let you know-we took a road trip to bring you all the information. We have a mushroom growing operation right here in Mississippi,hidden away in a nondescript building in a small town in the South Central part of the state.The first step is loading sawdust and millet in plastic bags, that after sterilization,will become the growing medium.
The blocks of medium start out brown and change to white as the mushroom spores that are added after sterilization, begin to grow. It takes about three months to get mushrooms. The ones below have hardened like a brick. The plastic is taken of and in seven days mushrooms grow on it. They are then cut of and in 21 days there is another crop. I think our tour guide said they get four harvests from one block.
Sorting those delicious mushrooms. They sell them here to the public as well as to restaurants,etc. They don't waste anything. The bits of dried mushrooms are combined with spices and sold as mushroom dust. Use it for seasoning as you would any other spice. 
I've seriously thought about buying the plugs and trying it a few times.
ReplyDeleteI think I will later on when I get closer to retirement and have a lot more time at home.
I'm not a big mushroom fan but your post was very interesting.
ReplyDeleteHave a Great Week! :-)
BTW, thanks for your comment on my "Don't Mess With Old People!" post. ~Ron
This was VERY interesting! I'd never seen the process before!
ReplyDeleteI'm your newest follower - #31!