More than you wanted to know about mushrooms-Meg

[Guest guest]

MMM! Interesting. I thought they grew on fallen, dead, decaying trees.

 

Joanie

 

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

I knew that mushrooms grew on poop (shitakes grow on an old log, so they may be

more appealing)...hehe. I use them only occasionally but do like them on pizza

or sauteed. I would still rather eat a mushroom than eat a burger, seeing a sad

cow's face (I tend to visualize some of the foods I have eaten).

M.A.

 

" artichoke72x " <artichoke72x wrote:

very interesting. thanks for the info on mushrooms,

meg!

 

--- Meg <itszen4me wrote:

 

> well, i cant speak for every single mushroom farm

> and I have no clue

> about wild cultivated mushrooms. I'm not sure about

> specialty

> mushrooms either, though I imagine this farm grew

> theirs in the same

> general manner. So, keep in mind that what I am

> about to describe is

> only for one commerical mushroom farm and only

> pertains to white and

> portabella mushrooms (though portabellas have

> different names based on

> their growth).

>

> It all starts with hay, chicken poop, horse pee and

> water. Yup, you

> read that right.

>

> The mushroom farm has a partner farm that supplies

> them with the

> chicken poop and horse pee.

>

> The hay, urine and feces are mixed together a la

> compost heap

> (STINKY!!!!) and watered down. The piles are huge

> and sit on outside

> flats and allowed to cook in the sun year-round

> (even when it's

> snowing!) When the core of the heap reaches 180

> degrees the pile is

> turned and the compost is put through a chipper and

> goes to the next

> phase.

>

> I cannot tell you in words how much that stinks. My

> husband didn't

> work in the actual farm, he worked in the building

> next door, had his

> own little office and everything. Aside from the

> few instances when

> he had to shadow the actual farm workers he rarely

> left the office

> building due to govt health standards. He stunk so

> horribly after

> work that I refused to ride in his car and I

> seriously made him take

> off all of his clothes in the garage and come inside

> and take a shower

> first thing. I wouldn't even bring his clothes in

> through the house

> to wash them, they went in through the utility door

> which lead right

> to the washing machine. I'd have the washing

> machine empty every

> night so we could wash his stuff right away.

>

> Back to the mushrooms...

>

> Inside the growing building there were palates

> approximately 11 feet

> long and 6 feet wide, stacked like shipping crates

> almost with about

> 12 " between them. They were stacked 3 or 4 high,

> sometimes as many as

> 6 high.

>

> The compost mulch is spread out in these palates.

> The palates are

> rotated so the oldest shrooms are always on the

> bottom of the pile.

>

> The mushroom spores are spread by hand into the new

> mulch and allowed

> to sit for I think it was 12 or 24 hours,maybe 36, I

> know it wasn't a

> long period of time. After that time the baby

> mushrooms start to come

> up and the crop is thinned so there is 1 shroom

> growing per inch of

> palate.

>

> Another day or two and the mushrooms that aren't

> growing well are thinned.

>

> Another day or two later the mushrooms are ready to

> be cultivated

> UNLESS they are giant portabellas or whitecaps for

> grilling, etc.

>

> The mushrooms are then seperated into grades. There

> is stuffing grade

> (big enough to stuff but not to grill for a

> sandwich), there is ready

> to eat grade (what you buy in the produce section)

> and there is soup

> grade. An experienced shroom picker can accurately

> pick, size,

> seperate and fill 3 bushel barrels in about 20

> minutes of picking.

> Pickers have a little ruler on them that they can

> use to judge the

> mushroom but after a few months they don't need to

> use it often.

>

> The soup grade mushrooms are the shrooms too small

> to go with the

> ready-to-eat shrooms, have a bit of scale (which I

> will explain

> later), are a bit off in color or have some other

> minor blemish. The

> really ugly ones are made into soup (imagine that).

> The not so nice

> looking ones but not too terrible either are usually

> sent to be

> processed into cans. The nicer looking ones that

> are just too small

> are sent for processing in glass gars.

>

> Things you don't want to see in a mushroom when you

> buy it...

>

> air spots - This is not really a bad thing and it

> alone shouldn't stop

> you from buying a mushroom, it just means the

> shrooms aren't as fresh

> as they could be. An air spot occurs when the

> mushroom browns at the

> exact spot where the air hole in the plastic wrap

> meets the mushroom.

> Air spots develop quicker when they aren't kept cool

> enough. In a cool

> environment air spots will develop about 3 days

> after they hit the

> shelf (which can be a week after they were picked).

>

> scale - scale is when the mushroom looks, well,

> scaly! It doesnt

> necessarily mean the shroom is bad, just that it is

> getting not so

> fresh. A little bit of scale isn't usually an issue

> and won't affect

> taste, but you want to avoid it if you can,

> especially if you need the

> cooked mushrooms to look pretty. Scaled mushrooms

> tend to peel when

> washed and cooked. A lot of scale means put the

> package back and get

> another pack. Scale combined with air spots = old

> mushrooms!

>

> Slime - obviously if your shroom is slimy it's way

> past it's prime, put it back.

>

> unusual smell - mushrooms smell funky and that's

> fine, but the more

> mushroomy it smells the older it is.

>

> firmness - poke the mushroom gently through the

> plastic wrap, it

> should have some give and not instantly bruise.

>

> and finally, ALWAYS look at the mushrooms under the

> top layer.

> Sometimes the top layer will have air spots or scale

> but the ones

> underneath it are fine...or the ones underneath

> could be worse.

>

> Oh, and you are supposed to wash your mushrooms

> under running water,

> brushing dirt off with your fingers. Don't use a

> mushroom brush. If

> you wash them, dry gently and seal in a sealed bag

> they will store in

> the fridge for a week or so. Air and moisture are

> the enemies of a

> good tasting mushroom. You don't want to freeze

> mushrooms as they get

> chewy.

>

> There you have it

>

> Meg

>

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mary Anne

 

 

 

Everyone is raving about the all-new Mail Beta.

 

 

[Guest guest]

well...i guess a lot of things we eat grow on poop when you think

about it LOL

I wanted to know how they got the horse pee. Apparently the horses are

corraled over an area with a grate when they eat and then it all is

funneled into barrells. Can you imagine that job?

 

I guess what bugs me is the chicken feces though, you know the

chickens aren't free roaming.

 

Meg

 

On 8/11/06, MaryAnne Crites <suzyq_26201 wrote:

> I knew that mushrooms grew on poop (shitakes grow on an old log, so they may

be more appealing)...hehe. I use them only occasionally but do like them on

pizza or sauteed. I would still rather eat a mushroom than eat a burger, seeing

a sad cow's face (I tend to visualize some of the foods I have eaten).

> M.A.

>