Pins to Plate

Time to make mushrooms

Your tube is white and fuzzy all over. The mycelium is full and happy. Now we tell it to grow mushrooms!

Wash your hands, and grab your grown-up. This is the best part.

Cut a window and give it light

To grow mushrooms, the mycelium needs three new things: fresh air, a little light, and moist air.

1. A grown-up cuts a small hole, about the size of a coin, in the side of the bag.

2. Move the bag to a brighter spot, out of hot direct sun. A shady windowsill is good.

3. Now the mushrooms know which way is out. A gentle bit of daylight says, "This way!" and they grow toward the light and fresh air.

Spray, wait, watch

Mushrooms are mostly water, so the air must stay moist. Every day, you spray a little clean water through the hole with a spray bottle. This is your special job.

Soon you will spot tiny bumps by the hole. These baby mushrooms are called pins, because they start as small as a pinhead.

Over about one week, the pins grow fast. Each day they get bigger. They stretch up and open out into caps shaped like little fans or seashells. Keep spraying and keep watching. Growing this quick is amazing to see!

Harvest day

Your mushrooms are ready when the caps have opened out wide, like small fans, but the edges are still smooth.

To pick them, do not cut or yank. Twist gently:

1. Hold the cluster near the bottom.

2. Twist your hand slowly, like opening a jar lid.

3. The whole bunch comes away in one piece.

And guess what? Many tubes grow a second batch! Soak it again, wait, and more pins may pop up in a week or two.

Wash, cook, enjoy

Before anyone eats a single bite:

1. Wash your hands after picking.

2. Brush off any bits of cardboard.

3. A grown-up cooks the mushrooms. We never eat them raw.

Cooked in a little butter or oil, home-grown oyster mushrooms are delicious.

Two forever rules: never eat any mushroom raw, and never eat a wild mushroom. Your tube mushrooms are a safe, known kind, grown by you. Wild ones are only for expert grown-ups to look at, never to pick or eat.

You did it! You turned an old tube into a real meal. What a clever mushroom grower you are!