It's not without reason that king oyster mushrooms are also known as king oyster mushrooms. The firm, very spicy edible mushrooms are closely related to the oyster mushroom, but are more similar to the noble porcini mushrooms in terms of taste and appearance. King oyster mushrooms not only have a delicate taste, but are also very versatile in the kitchen. With a ready-made culture, you can even grow the tasty fruit bodies yourself at home.
How can I grow king oyster mushrooms myself?
Royal mushrooms can be grown at home using a ready-made culture by placing them at a temperature of 10 to 20 °C and high humidity, keeping the substrate evenly moist and harvesting the first mushrooms after about 2-3 weeks.
Growing is very easy with a ready-made mushroom culture
From specialized dealers you can get ready-made mushroom cultures that grow on chipped wood and are tightly wrapped in plastic foil. Basically, you don't have to do anything other than open these bags and keep the substrate moist - with a suitable location and correspondingly high humidity, it doesn't take long until the first heads appear. After harvesting, the finished culture can be activated two to three times, so that you can harvest several kilograms of fresh mushrooms within a few weeks.
Activate and maintain mushroom cultivation culture
To successfully grow mushrooms, you first need a suitable location. You don't need a garden to grow herb mushrooms, because the ready-made culture can just as easily be placed on the balcony, in the cellar or even in the bathroom - the main thing is that the temperature there is between ten and 20 °C and the humidity is high. King oyster mushrooms like it moist, which is why the ideal humidity is around 90 percent. If you don't have the space to do this, it doesn't matter: Since the plastic hood remains closed during the cultivation phase, a kind of greenhouse effect is created - the inside of the plastic bag is sufficiently moist. Light, on the other hand, is only slightly needed.
- To start, only cut holes in the corners of the plastic bag.
- Keep the substrate with the mycelium evenly moist.
- However, avoid waterlogging - make a few holes in the bottom of the bag.
- Do not spray the substrate with a spray bottle - germs often collect here.
- Water from a clean watering can instead.
- As soon as the first mushroom heads appear, cut the top of the bag open.
- Remove the plastic when the mushrooms get bigger.
When can you harvest the first herb mushrooms?
If you use a ready-made culture, you can harvest the first mushrooms after about two to three weeks. By the way, king oyster mushrooms can get very large, but don't wait too long to harvest them - otherwise the taste will suffer.
Cleaning and processing the herb mushrooms
Immediately after harvesting, you can clean and process the king oyster mushrooms. The aromatic mushrooms taste best freshly fried in a pan with butter and just s alt and pepper. For larger harvest quantities, you can easily freeze, dry or pickle some of it.
Tip
When you buy king oyster mushrooms, you can sometimes find a fluffy, cobweb-like, white structure. This is not mold, but rather the fungal mycelium. You can fry it and eat it or simply cut it off and use it to grow your own mushrooms.
