Some thrifty chefs have learned how to grow Porcini mushrooms at home.
Porcini mushrooms are a staple for gourmet cooks and restaurants around the world. They have a rich, nutty flavour and their intense earthy aroma make them great for sauces and stews!
But theres more to a Porcini than its great taste.
Porcini mushrooms have a whole host of medicinal benefits that scientists have been researching for years. They recently found that Porcini mushrooms have anti-aging properties and can help reduce the risk of cancer.
There are many ways to grow Porcini mushrooms at home and I’ve been testing some of the methods i’ve found across the web. I’m going to share the methods that worked well, and what I would avoid.
How to Growing Porcini Mushrooms… Explained
Before we get started, let’s get the basics nailed down.
There’s lots of ways you can get started growing Porcini mushrooms at home. The best way to do it yourself in my opinion is to grow them from a spore syringe, or cloning them.
How to Grow Porcini Mushrooms From Spores
#1 Porcini Mushroom Spores
A mushroom spore is not a seed, but a microscopic single cell. If a mushroom spore comes into contact with other spores it can develop and grow into a mushroom fruit body. For ease we can think of spores like seeds.
You can buy them online in ready to use spore syringes or you can learn how to make a porcini spore print and then learn how to make your own spore syringe.
#2 Sterilize A Substrate
First things first. In biology a substrate is the substance on which an organism grows or is attached. Sawdust, grains and wood plugs are all common substrates used for cultivating mycelium.
Mycelium is the thread-like collection of cells that make up the main body of a fungi. To a mushroom mycelium is like the roots of a plant, or the tree of the olive tree. The mushrooms themselves are fruiting bodies.
The usual way to sterilize our chosen substrate is in jars or heat proof bags by pressure cooking. Pressure cooking allows us to get the temperature over 100 degrees and kill more bad bacteria.
#3 Prepare The Porcini Mushroom Spawn
We inject the spores into the sterilized substrate to start the mycelium growth. This is called inoculation. If it all goes to plan, the mycelium grows and we have porcini mushroom spawn.
The mushroom spawn is used to transfer mycelium onto a bigger substrate, called the bulk substrate.
Important Tips
- It’s very easy to cultivate unwanted bacteria or mould when growing your spawn. Work in a hygienic, sterile environment to reduce the contaminants.
- Temperatures and humidity are important and very from mushroom to mushroom.
- Oxygen and carbon dioxide gas exchange are important for healthy growth.
#3 Prepare Your Porcini Mushroom Bulk Substrate
Your Porcini mushroom spawn should be fully colonized with thick fluffy mycelium.
You can grow mushrooms straight from spawn, without a bulk substrate, but it’s not ideal. A certain amount of spawn can inoculate a much greater amount of substrate; resulting in many more mushrooms than if you used spawn alone.
- Depending on your chosen Mushroom growing method, you’ll either pasteurize or sterilize your bulk substrate.
- Then transfer the Porcini mushroom spawn full of fresh healthy mycelium onto the chosen substrate.
- From here your mycelium will continue to grow.
This is the base from which your mushrooms will grow but first you need to transfer the spawn to a bigger, bulk substrate.
#4 Harvesting Your Porcini Mushrooms
This whole process will probably take at least six weeks to get your first fruits.
Porcini Mushroom Growing Techniques (Teks)
A quick recap you need mushroom spawn for you bulk substrate.
Porcini Mushroom Spawn teks
Porcini Mushroom Substrate Teks
There are many different substrates you can use for goring Porcini Mushrooms. The simplest way at home is to grow Porcini mushrooms on cardboard.
Porcini Mushroom Cardboard Tek
- Soak cardboard in water. The cardboard is ready for the next step when it’s pliable and bendy.
- Peel apart the layers of the cardboard.
- Coat one side of the card board with porcini spawn.
- Roll the cardboard up.
- Secure the rolled cardboard to stop the tube from unraveling.
- Place the rolled up cardboard stuffed with mushroom spawn in a location with an average temperature between 60 and 64 degrees Fahrenheit, and a 95-percent humidity level.
- Keep the cardboard moist by spritzing it with water in a spray bottle.
- Harvest the mushrooms when they have reached your ideal size. The mushrooms will begin to grow in three to four weeks.