Oyster
Oyster mushrooms cook quickly in a pan and make a delicious side or main dish. The caps brown quickly and stay tender. More ideas from other cooks are on our oyster recipes page.
Meet the Mushroom
Raw, they taste mild and a little sweet. A hot pan makes them savory. Some clusters smell faintly of anise before they cook.
The caps are soft and fan-shaped. They grow as a cluster from one base. Tear them along the seams so each piece stays intact.
They cook down fast. A crowded, wet pan steams them. Give them room if you want the edges to brown.
How We Grow It
Our blue oysters are one of our best sellers. We grow them in a humidity- and temperature-controlled room: about 70°F and about 85% relative humidity. After sterilization, blocks take about four weeks to fully colonize, then move to the fruiting room. In the fruiting room they take about seven to ten days to produce the blue oysters we sell.
- Colonize ~4 weeks
- Fruit 7 to 10 days
Storage
Keep them dry and cold. Cook them while the caps are still firm.
Our blue oysters keep about two weeks in the refrigerator in a paper bag.
If the caps turn slimy or the smell goes sour, compost them. Do not cover that with a heavy sauce.
How to Cook It
- Brush off sawdust with a dry towel. Skip a soak. Wet caps will not brown.
- Cut off the tough stem end. Tear the cluster apart by hand.
- Heat the pan. Add enough oil or butter to coat it. Salt the mushrooms and lay them in a single layer.
- Leave them until the edges brown. Stir once. They are done when the caps are tender and a few spots are crisp.
Recipes
Watercress salad
Sear the mushrooms until the edges brown, then set them on peppery watercress with a sharp dressing. The written recipe is the roasted oyster mushroom and watercress salad on our recipes list.
Teriyaki
Cook the mushrooms hot, then glaze them at the end so the sauce does not burn before the caps brown. The teriyaki oyster mushrooms on the recipes page is a short weeknight version.
Crispy burger
Batter large caps and fry them until the crust is crisp. Put one on a bun with a sharp sauce. The oyster mushroom burger on the recipes page is that plate.
Squash tart
Roast the mushrooms first so they are not watery, then bake them on a tart with squash. The roasted mushroom and butternut squash tart is the long version on our recipes page.
Grow It at Home
Growing difficulty
- Easy with a kit
- Harder from scratch
A ready fruiting kit is the simple start. Mist it and keep it out of direct sun. We rate that as easy if you can check it each day.
Starting from spawn takes a cleaner setup and more patience. We would call that a moderate project, not a first weekend.
We sell oyster grow kits when requested. Ask us if you want one.
When your home grow is ready, cook it the same way we cook the mushrooms from the farm. If you would rather buy fresh mushrooms, ask us what we have this week.