The Best Mushroom Growing Kit - Eat Your Words Review
Did you know that you can grow your own oyster mushrooms using some of your favourite books?
Usually found growing outside, oyster mushrooms typically feed on dead and dying trees. As book pages are essentially a type of wood, they make tasty food for growing oyster mushrooms, and provide a great way of reusing any unwanted books.
And yes, you can eat them too!
Why should you grow oyster mushrooms?
Widely considered to be a superfood, oyster mushrooms have been used in folk medicine for thousands of years. They’re low in calories yet rich in vitamins and minerals, and can easily be added to a variety of home cooked meals.
Studies have found that oyster mushrooms specifically are high in antioxidants, and may be beneficial for heart and cognitive health.
Whether you’re a book blogger with a huge stack of proofs/ARCS to dispose of, or a reader with titles that you’ve lost interest in, this is something that you need to try.
Personally, I think that these mushroom growing kits are incredible, and really demonstrate how incredible science can be! I had so much fun growing mine, with multiple flushes growing from each book. See a few examples of the mushrooms I grew below.
Designed by a small UK based brand, the Eat Your Words kits have been created by Marley at Super Fungi. He’s worked hard to ensure that the kits are friendly to the environment, and every part of them can be recycled after use (more information on their website). The books can even be moved outside after fruiting where they will continue to produce tasty oyster mushrooms.
The steps for growing the mushrooms are simple and I’ve illustrated them here with photos from my own mushroom growing experience.
Things to remember:
These kits come with live spawn that should be started within three weeks of receipt
You are currently able to order kits to arrive at a delay, in time for Christmas but with plenty of time left to grow the mushrooms
How to grow mushrooms using your Eat My Words kit
Step 1) Choose your books
When selecting a book for mushroom growing, it’s recommended that you choose something that isn’t coated in plastic. A regular paperback is ideal, and while you can grow the mushrooms from longer hardbacks, this may take longer. It’s also preferable that you use books which aren’t older than 10 years in order to provide an optimal growing environment.
Bear in mind that your chosen books should also be able to fit inside the grow bags (you receive one per kit), and you can often fit a few paperbacks in at once.
Step 2) Soak your books
This will go against all of your bookish instincts, but trust me, it’s worth it. Take your books and submerge them in boiling water, ensuring that they are weighed down. Leave for half an hour before removing - this will ensure that your books are clean(ish) for the mushrooms to get growing.
Step 3) Adding the spawn
Gently squeeze as much water as you can from the books, before laying them down on a clean surface. Then, with clean hands, start adding the spawn from the bag provided and scatter it throughout.
A good guide to follow is to add one teaspoon across two pages, beginning at the centre. You don’t need to add spawn to every page, but try to spread them evenly throughout the books.
Step 4) Set up the grow tent
Pop the books into the grow tent and seal it with a sticker (provided), ensuring that you don’t cover the filter patch which will allow them to breathe. Store the bag out of direct sunlight and keep watch as the mycelium spreads across the pages - this will take a few weeks. You should keep it in a warm spot at about 20 degrees Celsius.
Step 5) Time to fruit the oysters!
It will take about three weeks for the book pages to become white and fluffy, which is your sign to move the grow tent from its warm spot and put it in the fridge for 24 hours.
Step 6) Remove the books from the grow tent
Place the books on a clean plate and spray them with water (8 - 10 times). Once they’ve been moistened, pop the grow tent back over the books so that it covers them loosely and leave them in a space with indirect sunlight and no drafts.
Step 7) The mushrooms begin!
After around 3 - 4 days and before fruiting actual mushrooms, the books will first produce little baby mushrooms known as pinning. This is your sign to remove the grow tent, staying with water occasionally as the mushrooms grow.
Step 8) Time to harvest
The mushrooms will grow in clusters, and can be harvested when the largest mushroom grows to around 4cm. You can expect to grow 2 - 3 crops of books.
If you don’t see the second or third crop growing, take the books and submerge them in water for 12 hours. This should shock the mushrooms into fruiting again.
Step 9) Continue the cycle
You can produce even more oyster mushrooms if you take the books outside and leave them in your garden. Full instructions are available on the Super Fungi website here!
Follow this link buy an Eat Your Words kit and have a go at growing oyster mushrooms from your own books. The kits cost around £15 each, making them the ideal gift for the book lover in your life.
For mushroom fans, Super Fungi also have a variety of other mushroom products for sale on their website, including tinctures and hats.