Big sigh... the mushroom vacation

March 31st was the first day that truly launched the pre-mushroom patch. It was the first day the box left the fridge and got submerged in boiled water. Twenty-four hours later, the patch moved to a disposable tray and began its daily spritzes of again, boiled water. After a week and a half, we declared the first batch of Shiitakes were done and the harvest was on.

Per the instructions, the patch is supposed to dry out for two weeks. I've been calling it the Shelby vacation. It's hard to not want to spritz and see it grow. I come home to see nothing has changed and check the calendar to see if it's time to strat the next cycle... not yet!

I did touch the block today. It's so not spongy right now. It has this dry texture with a bit of crust to it. I'm sure it'll soften up once it goes in for its next deep-down dunk.

Oh, my coworker who had told me about mushroom-in-a-box in the first place, said some time ago that what I was describing as my mushroom kit was not what she had done before. In fact, her kit literally kept the mushrooms in the box the whole time. There was no refrigeration or breaks required. She also was growing portobellos.

All things considered, while it's difficult not to keep growing and growing mushrooms, I find the break a good thing. For one thing, the break cuts the growth obsession over the block (meeeee obsess over the block?). It also provides time to think up other ways to eat mushrooms. So far, it's been fried rice... J's idea. As the next harvest comes, we may drop it in risotto or add it to a salad or pasta. We could do Shiitake ravioli by squishing two wonton skins together, a tip from Giada de Laurentis as seen on Everyday Italian. But alas... still need to wait. It is the mushroom vacation.