Giant Harvest Day

Giants after the rain

One day, after a good rain and some cool weather, you walk out to the garden and there they are. Red-capped mushrooms pushing up through the chips. Your garden giants have arrived!

Put on your rain boots, wash your hands, and bring your grown-up. It is harvest day!

Pick them young

The best time to pick a wine cap is when it is still young. Look for caps that are round and dome-shaped, still curled down toward the stem, like a little closed umbrella.

Young wine caps are the tastiest. They are firm, and fewer bugs and slugs have found them yet. Wine caps grow fast — they can almost double in size in a day — so check the bed often and pick them while they are young.

The gentle harvest

Here is how to pick a garden giant:

1. Hold the mushroom low, near the bottom of the stem.

2. Twist it gently, or let your grown-up cut it at the base with a knife.

3. Lift it out. Brush off any chips.

Only a grown-up uses a knife. You can do the gentle twist and carry the basket.

The bed keeps giving

The best part? You do not pull up the whole bed. The mycelium stays alive under the chips.

With care and water, your bed can fruit again — often in spring and again in autumn, year after year. Add fresh chips now and then and your giants keep coming back. One bed, many harvests!

Wash, cook, and enjoy

Before anyone takes a bite:

1. Wash your hands after harvesting.

2. Brush or rinse the mushrooms clean.

3. A grown-up cooks them well before you eat them.

Wine caps are always eaten cooked, never raw. Cooked in a little butter, they taste mild and delicious.

Two rules forever: never eat a mushroom raw, and never eat a wild mushroom. We only eat the safe ones we grew on purpose. Wild mushrooms are just for looking at.

You grew a garden giant from wood chips and patience. Amazing work, mushroom farmer!