Normal Looking Wine Cap Defined, Plus a Recipe for Braised Wine Cap and Asparagus

by Mary Ellen Kozak

In the spring and late fall, Wine Cap mushrooms can look different than expected. Just like spring Shiitake, (Weird and Crazed Shiitake: Why Your Mushrooms Don't Look Like You'd Expect) spring grown Wine Caps can be freakish enough that people send us of photos of what they hope to be Wine Caps... but are just not quite sure.

Exposure to swings in temperature and humidity during early
mushroom development creates interesting looking Wine Caps

More than any other time of the year, the spring season gives us the most unusual looking Wine Caps. Why it happens: Most of this variability in appearance is caused by spring's wild swings in temperature, low humidity and vigorous exposure to winds (and the fact that there's limited vegetation available to shield developing mushrooms). Later in the summer, cooling evenings bring high humidity and also a pretty dramatic reduction in wind speed, which affect humidity from the knee down - creating ideal conditions for cap development.

Wine Cap - with cap color as we'd expect it to be

When you know you've inoculated Wine Cap into wood chips or straw but are questioning the identity of the emerging mushrooms in your bed, check for other identifiable structures. The cap is usually the most variable. To better identify mushrooms that do not look as you'd expect, make sure to lift up the entire mushroom, including the stem attachment to the soil, by digging deep into the wood chips, straw or soil.

Dig into the wood chips to lift up the mushroom, stem and all, for proper identification

If you are new to Wine Cap cultivation in ALL its seasons, you may find the chart below to be helpful in confirming your harvest. If you ever have any questions about Wine Cap identification, please call us, or better yet, email us a photo, and we'll be glad to help you.

One of my favorite ways to prepare Wine Caps involves harvesting the buttons early (this is especially important if you are growing them in straw beds, as they tend to quickly attract mushroom flies). These little jewels can be sliced in half or quartered and lightly braised in a savory broth with fresh asparagus spears. Both the Wine Caps and asparagus are plate-ready, crunchy fresh and perfect for a tiny desk lunch. If you'd like, you may add other seasonings such as shallot, chili or cumin seeds for a stronger flavor to amplify the delicate flavors of the mushrooms and asparagus.

Braised Wine Cap and Asparagus

Ingredients:

6-8 (or more) small spears of asparagus

1 cup of Wine Cap buttons, sliced in half or quartered

1 tsp olive oil

pinch of salt

1/2 c chicken or vegetable broth, wine or oil

Trim the straw (or wood chips) off the mushrooms and rinse them

Half or quarter the Wine Caps and trim the asparagus

Add 1 tsp of oil to a heated saute pan. Add the mushrooms and let them get caramel brown, especially on the cut edges. Add the asparagus, 1/2 c broth and put the lid on, steaming the asparagus and mushrooms for about 5 minutes. Plate and enjoy. Serves 1-2.

Is Grain Spawn or Sawdust Spawn Better for Oyster Mushroom Production on Straw?
by Laura Kahles

From left to right: Italian, Golden and Pink Oyster mushroom growing on pasteurized straw.

I have been growing oyster mushrooms on straw for just over five years now. The opportunity to hand this task off onto other F&FP members has come up, but I just can't give it up. Why not, you might ask. My best guess...there is still so much to learn about this fascinating process. After five years, I still have unanswered questions, and more research to complete.

For anyone who is not familiar with the process, I will briefly explain. Chopped straw is pasteurized (cooked) in hot water to reduce the amount of contaminates it may contain (ie. molds, bacteria). After the straw drains and cools it is inoculated (planted) using oyster mushroom spawn (seed). After only a few short weeks beautiful oyster mushroom emerge, and can continue doing so for 2-3 months.

Here at F&FP our most popular type of spawn is called grain spawn. I use it when I can, but there are times when grain spawn becomes scarce here. The scarcity can happen for many different reasons including selling out, late grain delivery from our supplier, or equipment failures. When grain is in short supply I turn to the next best thing...sawdust spawn!

Which is better? I don't yet have a definitive answer to this question. As a professional I can see the good in both varieties. I can share with you what I do know at this point.

Grain spawn is easier to break up, and is easier to pour. A gentle massage of the bag will get the job done. If you have some pent up frustration I suggest you choose sawdust spawn. The oyster mycelium does a fine job of turning tiny sawdust particles into one solid brick that is easiest to break up with a firm fist. Do, however, be careful not to break the spawn bag.

Grain spawn breaks up easily, and adds extra nutrients.

Sawdust spawn has the advantage when it comes to spawn run time (time until full colonization). Grain particles are larger, and although they cover a larger surface area individually, there are not as many inoculation points as there are when sawdust is sprinkled throughout the straw. On average I have had mushroom pin formation two days earlier when using sawdust spawn.

Sawdust spawn is available in larger bags then grain, and it covers better allowing for more inoculation points.

Whether I use grain or sawdust I have gone to using a 5% inoculation rate. That is, 5% of the weight weight of the straw is the weight used in spawn. Bags of grain come in 4 lb. units and can plant about 4 sleeves (polyethylene 4 mil bags). Large bags of sawdust spawn come is 5.5 lb. bags and can plant 5 1/2 sleeves. If buying small quantities of spawn, sawdust ends up being the more economical choice. However, grain spawn requires buying a lesser amount of bags to receive our lowest price break. This makes grain spawn ideal for large scale commercial customers See the graphic below for our quantity discounting.

Now for the big question, which type of spawn produces more mushrooms? Remember earlier when I stated that I did not have all the answers...well, I don't have the answer to this just yet. I have seen some impressive numbers (in terms of yield) when using both grain spawn and sawdust spawn. On the opposite end of the spectrum, I have seen low yields from both types. Most of the time my diminished yields are due to other factors including (but not limited to) dirty straw, humidifier issues, or fungus gnats (there are many joys to mushroom farming).

My goals for the future are to do more comprehensive yield comparisons, and figure out which additives (if any) can help boost yield even further for sawdust and/or grain spawn. I will be sure to post results as soon as they are available. Stay tuned!