Because of shelter-in-place, I thought I would share one thing isn’t really new for us, but has been especially fun and enjoyable – mini mushroom farming!
There is a mushroom stand, Far West Fungi, at a few of the San Francisco farmers markets, which sell all different varieties of mushroom. We like to try different mushrooms we’ve never heard of and experiment with them in our cooking – a few in particular have been really nice sauteed with butter and garlic or mixed into a stir fry.
This stand also has a storefront in the ferry building that sells these little mini mushroom farms to help you can grow mushrooms yourself. (See the farming & cultivation products of their website here if you want to get one delivered – and support a local business!) You need a space like a garage or closet, and scissors or a knife, but otherwise, they give all of the tools and instructions so you are basically set!
Note: The mushroom growing instructions are a little confusing; sometimes we just make it up as we go along and still get yummy mushrooms!
Some mushroom tips:
- Shiitake mushrooms are the easiest to grow.
- Mushrooms that you don’t use right away should be stored in a paper bag in the fridge.
- Shiitake mushroom stems are usually tough and not that nice to eat, but they are perfect to put into our vegetarian soup stock!
