Remember the mushroom kit I posted about? Well, our DIY mushroom kit fruited like crazy and we yielded 3 cups of delicious oyster mushrooms! My son was really into spritzing the kit with water, and he was willing to taste them once I cooked them up. This is a really fun science project because the mushrooms grow a lot (roughly doubling in size?) from one day to the next. Here’s what I learned from my first experience. We had a great time, but I don’t think I’ll go for a second fruiting of this kit or break it up to make new kits. I think it’s ready for the garden as a soil amendment. One of the openings in the bag looks a little greenish, so we’re gonna call it done.

Tips I Wish I Had Known for Harvesting Mushrooms

These things grow REALLY fast. Get your ruler or other measuring device out when you set up the kit so you’ll be ready to measure and harvest when the biggest mushrooms are 2-2.5″ in diameter. The mushroom organism will “abort” most primordia to allow one or two dominant ones to grow to their full potential. So don’t cut lots of holes in the plastic everywhere you see primordia, cuz they won’t turn into much anyway, and it just makes the kit dry out. Harvest the mushroom bunch by twisting it off instead of cutting it. If you cut it, there’s a stem that stays there and may rot if you try to keep using the kit.

A Recipe for Gomba Paprikás (Mushroom Paprikash)

I cooked up our mushrooms into a Hungarian dish that I love but seldom make. It’s good on its own over pasta or rice or preferably spaetzle (nokkedli or galuska in Hungarian). We don’t do spaetzle because of N’s egg allergy, but it’s delicious! I had this over pasta the first time and a wild rice pilaf with some yellow lentils as leftovers.

Prep time: 30 minutes

Serves 4

Ingredients

1 tbsp olive oil

1 small onion, diced

1/4 tsp salt

1-2 tbsp Hungarian paprika (not the smoked or spicy kinds! Less paprika means a stronger mushroom flavor.)

1 tbsp concentrated tomato paste or a fresh tomato & fresh Hungarian green pepper, or guyláskrém

3 c. chopped mushrooms (remove tough stems first)

1/2 c. water

2-3 tbsp. sour cream

1-2 tbsp. flour

chopped parsley for serving

Instructions