Homemade Mushrooms

Product Review: Mushroom Farms by Far West Fungi

The SF Ferry Building never ceases to amaze me. The minute I think I’ve seen, tasted or tried everything it has to offer, something new blows me away.

This time, it was the idea of growing my own mushrooms in the comforts of my kitchen. Far West Fungi is now selling a mushroom mini farm that does exactly this. No garden, no foraging, no potential for being poisoned. It’s the chia-pet of mushrooms!

The box comes with a large white “brick” wrapped in a plastic bag. You’re meant to place it in a cool environment and open the plastic bag ever so slightly. In two short weeks, mushrooms grow that are farmers-market fresh. Once you harvest the first batch, the brick will grow a second (sometimes third) set of mushrooms. The kits come in either shitake or tree oyster varietals.

I was so in love with this product, I sent one to my parents. Given the cold weather on the East coast, the mushroom farm unfortunately arrived frozen having been left on a UPS truck overnight. I called Ian at Far West Fungi and he had another one delivered right away. Exemplary customer service.

The best part: the fun only costs $25. A bit expensive for what is essentially 1½ pounds of mushrooms, but totally worth it for several weeks of amusement and the satisfaction that it doesn’t get much more fresh than this!

http://store.farwestfungi.com/mushroom-mini-farms.htm