Fun guys

[claudine]

Oh okay, then I guess I shouldn't be so scared. I was thinking about buying mushrooms from the supermarket, with labels and all. I think that I would choose the white ones (I don't know their proper English name. Google translator says that they're called 'mushrooms'), because I heard that they're always grown on a farm, never collected in woods. So I guess they should be safe.
This is what they look like:

 

[zigs]

Yep, they are simply called Mushrooms in England, sometimes Button Mushrooms when the caps haven't opened fully.

Agaricus bisporus, I used to grow thousands of them in the mushroom farm, all grown in dark heated tunnels.

Found a wild mushroom you can't mistake for anything else,

Giant Puffball, the slices are delicious fried in butter. Found that one in the same field as the Melplash Show was held in, long after the show though.

 

[claudine]

I thought that maybe they have a special name, in Poland they do. Is it possible for a poisonous mushroom to grow among these white mushrooms on a farm and go unnoticed?
Wow, the Giant Puffball really is giant! It looks so weird, I've never seen anything like it.

 

[zigs]

What are they called in Poland Claudine?

It's highly unlikely, the spawn is grown in sterile conditions. Its theoretically possible that spores from the atmosphere could land in the bags, but you'd need 2 separate mycelium to grow & meet to produce a fruiting body. Never heard of it happening on a farm.

Some years we get lots of Puffballs, other years they don't come at all. Best way to find them is to go to the top of a hill with a pair of Binoculars.

 

[Rzashida]

I have grown mushrooms from a pre-package bag during the winter, I loved it because I sat the bag on the top of a log and it even made the log grow mushrooms. I know you have to be very careful with growing mushrooms because they all look so much alike. But, the pre-package bag makes it easier. It even produces during a freeze. ( I grew Blue oyster mushrooms).

 

[zigs]

I love Oyster Mushrooms, a good winter forage crop.

They often grow high up Beech trees, i've used a knife tied to the end of a long stick to harvest them.

 

[claudine]

What are they called in Poland Claudine?

It's highly unlikely, the spawn is grown in sterile conditions. Its theoretically possible that spores from the atmosphere could land in the bags, but you'd need 2 separate mycelium to grow & meet to produce a fruiting body. Never heard of it happening on a farm.

Some years we get lots of Puffballs, other years they don't come at all. Best way to find them is to go to the top of a hill with a pair of Binoculars.

In Poland, they're called 'pieczarki'. I think that every kind of mushroom have a special name here.
Mushrooms that were grown on a farm are safe to eat then. Maybe I'll be brave enough to start buying them

 

[lemonzest]

I just discovered that button mushrooms are just small portobello mushrooms, and feel oddly betrayed by the knowledge.

 

[zigs]

Yep, Agaricus bisporus is called a lot of things, depending how much the market trader thinks he can get out of you.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agaricus_bisporus

 

[lemonzest]

Yep, Agaricus bisporus is called a lot of things, depending how much the market trader thinks he can get out of you.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agaricus_bisporus

Good lord, they're crimini mushrooms as well? It's all a tissue of lies, I tell ya.

 

[zigs]

Good lord, they're crimini mushrooms as well? It's all a tissue of lies, I tell ya.

And Pieczarki

Didn't know this,

Women in the study who consumed fresh mushrooms daily were 64% less likely to develop breast cancer, while those that combined a mushroom diet with regular green tea consumption reduced their risk of breast cancer by nearly 90%

 

[lemonzest]

And Pieczarki

Didn't know this,

Well since I'm already apparently consuming seven different kinds I guess I'm set!

But seriously, whatever they call them they are delicious. And just as importantly, they're super easy to cook, I just made some in red wine last night. Googling around, it also looks like they're pretty easy to grow, so I may have to see about that but I think I'd be too scared to harvest wild grown ones.

 

[claudine]

Well since I'm already apparently consuming seven different kinds I guess I'm set!

But seriously, whatever they call them they are delicious. And just as importantly, they're super easy to cook, I just made some in red wine last night. Googling around, it also looks like they're pretty easy to grow, so I may have to see about that but I think I'd be too scared to harvest wild grown ones.

Mushrooms made in red wine sound so perfect! Could you share the recipe with us?
So far, I've only eaten cooked mushrooms (I think that they were cooked, but I'm not 100% about it, since it was my first time ever to try them) and they were delicious!

 

[zigs]

They taste a bit like polystyrene raw, so you probably had them cooked.

If you can get hold of some big ones, fry them slowly in butter, upside down, the caps will fill with liquid, put some salt, pepper & herbs on them, lovely.

 

[yellowbird]

I have grown mushrooms from a pre-package bag during the winter, I loved it because I sat the bag on the top of a log and it even made the log grow mushrooms. I know you have to be very careful with growing mushrooms because they all look so much alike. But, the pre-package bag makes it easier. It even produces during a freeze. ( I grew Blue oyster mushrooms).

About how much did the bags cost? I'd love to grow some morel mushrooms if it's at all possible, but I don't really know where the best place to order from would be. Was the process easy enough?