#wine caps

Things I learned so you don’t have to!

This is our first year crash course growing these from Field And Forest’s jar spawn, and they were CORRECT, it is filthy easy to do.

We used woodchips from box elder and walnut from an area we were clearing for pasture, but the majority of it was nasty invasive autumn olive, and they don’t seem to care! They can also be grown in straw. I spread out a bed of mulch a scant 3-4in deep last fall in a shady spot with the spawn sandwiched sparsely in between it and watered it at least twice a week. Nothing last year, but this spring it’s giving me an insane 2-4lbs of mushrooms a day in 80-90 degree weather already.

I’m trying to water it at least every other day now that it’s fruiting, but while hot and dry, lightly once a day might be better. Tan caps are fine, they’ll just be redder if they have more shade. A mulch bed will give 1-2 years use and then probably will need fresh chips to keep producing. The processed mulch is GREAT for garden soil.

They’re best cut off at the stem when the veil is just split underneath, younger button ones are good too but more crisp veggie tasting. Braise, grill caps or stew instead of the usual butter in the pan cooking, or dehydrate slices.

Ours had a LOT of worms (not harmful just gross) so I removed all the stems, discarded the worst cap parts, kept the mediocre ones for dehydrating for stock (bits will be strained out after including any remaining bugs and won’t affect flavor), and still had a large stack of chunks to be saved for soup and clean slices fresh for dinner/dehydration and adding whole to stews.

Three days worth of mushrooms from my 3x5 bed and one bottle of spawn yielded FIVE TRAYS of slices, plus enough for dinner and a bag to my family, not counting the discarded parts or a full 3gal bucket of plate-sized ones I let get too mature to eat (those are going on a different wood chip pile).

Stropharia rugosoannulata -  King Stropharia , Wine Caps     +50p

Habitat: Commonly found popping up as scattered gregarious clusters usually in mulch, wood chips, straws, lawns, gardens, and other cultivated areas covered in rich organic debris. They can be foraged from spring through autumn.

Edibility: Coveted for its edibility and fine taste. Widely cultivated throughout parts of eastern Europe and is one of the best wild edibles ready for the table.

Spore Color: Deep purple brown to black.

Gill Color: Whitish or gray, soon transitioning to tones of purple and soon black in age with white edges.

Cap Color: Color varies from cap to cap. Often described as wine-red, purple-brown, reddish-brown. Fading to tan and in some cases grey in old age.

Today we inoculated our pathways with wine caps sawdust spawn from North Spore! We love to incorporate mushrooms whenever we can into our gardening ❤🌱🍄

oh mein gött