We’re really excited to be launching out Hot Pink Kitchen Gardens, the amazingly beautiful and tasty pink oyster mushrooms grown on upcycled coffee grounds, and can’t wait for you to try them for yourselves.

It’s been over a year since we grew our first pink oyster mushrooms, when we accidentally bought the wrong spawn from our supplier but when it came to fruiting our oyster mushrooms we were delighted by the results. It’s not an exaggeration to say the mushrooms grow like corals, creating uniquely shaped mushrooms that you won’t find in the supermarket. We also found they grow even more quickly than our elegant Pearl Oyster mushrooms, in crazy shades of pink.

Since that discovery we’ve been learning more about this exotic species and working out how to perfect pink oyster Kitchen Gardens that you can grow at home to experience for yourselves. It’s true to say there’s been a bit of trial and error along the way, and we should thank many of our favourite customers for being part of that trial.

To make sure our tests weren’t bias and fuelled by our enthusiasm for the mini-mushrooms, we wanted loads of people to have a go, so in April this year we sent out our first batch of tester kits to some of our best customers from Christmas and were delighted to get the mushroom updates coming in on a daily basis. Our prototypes were of course ‘top secret’ so some of our guinea pigs including Sarah Moore, Steve and Ollie have shown admirable restraint from tweeting their results straight away – although we’ve now added their photos to the Mushroom Hall of Fame – their boxes were in the Pearl packs with top secret stickers on!

These are a few of the most important things we’ve learnt

The Pinks are impatient to get going – when you receive a Hot Pink, start growing it as quickly as you can! On the packs we say Open Up within 1 month, and ideally you’d start even sooner.

– when you receive a Hot Pink, start growing it as quickly as you can! On the packs we say Open Up within 1 month, and ideally you’d start even sooner. They’re call Hot Pinks for a reason – they like it hot. Make sure you keep them away from extreme chill, this species originates from the tropics, so they must be grown above 10 degrees centigrade, if you’re growing them at home over winter, keep them in a warmer room away from the window

Make sure you keep them away from extreme chill, this species originates from the tropics, so they must be grown above 10 degrees centigrade, if you’re growing them at home over winter, keep them in a warmer room away from the window They’ve vigorous! When you look at the grow bag you’ll see their pinkness is already showing, water them and you’ll see mini mushrooms emerge really quickly. Similarly, Round 2 should come quite soon after so keep an eye on your Kitchen Garden after the first harvest and make sure you water at the right time

When you look at the grow bag you’ll see their pinkness is already showing, water them and you’ll see mini mushrooms emerge really quickly. Similarly, Round 2 should come quite soon after so keep an eye on your Kitchen Garden after the first harvest and make sure you water at the right time Pick them in their prime – they grow so fast, especially in the last few days that you’ll need to keep an eye on them to pick them when they’re at their best, while a rich shade of pink.

– they grow so fast, especially in the last few days that you’ll need to keep an eye on them to pick them when they’re at their best, while a rich shade of pink. Taste fantastic – The texture is firmer than the Pearl Oyster mushrooms and they lend themselves well so some more exotic dishes, have a look at our Pink Oyster Mushroom Sushi Maki recipe to get the creative culinary juices flowing…

Now over to you, do let us know how you get on and you can get yourself into our Hall of Fame!