Shiitake Log

I got this fantastic log for my birthday. It's sugar gum (at least I'm pretty sure that's what they said it was in the paper that came with it). Normally shiitake grow on oak but it's illegal to ship oak limbs into California for fear of importing some pestilence that we don't currently suffer.

To get it to bloom you shock the log by submersing it in ice cold water over night which makes the fungus think spring has sprung once it is removed and warms back up. Sometimes with a new log it takes two shocks before it's ready to bloom. Mine did. And the first bloom is often small which you can see, mine was.


Now that the mushrooms have been harvested (they were delicious by the way) the log needs to be kept moist while it rests in darkness for about a month. When I shock it again it should produce a more bountiful crop.

They look a little like pancakes and in some of the pictures they look like a shelf fungus because the cap is so big and they pushed up against the vertical bark of the log. Next time I might try to tip the log a bit so that the caps might clear the log and fully form. I can't wait.

The Chicken of the Woods Matures

The Chicken of the Woods mushroom I spied last week at the base of my neighbor's eucalyptus now looks more like the typical Laetiporus sulphureus with the shelf like spores.

I think the fungus was newly formed when I saw it last week. The heads looked more like cauliflower then. See last week's photo.

More Mushrooms at Camp Ramshackle

Eric took out the last of the tomato plants out of one of our raised beds. While turning the soil, he discovered some mushroom pods and pulled them out for observation.

He recognized them, remembering a previous visitor, the common stinkhorn. These did not reach the stink of our first encounter with phallus impudicu.

Chicken of the Woods Spied Next Door

While returning home from school, I noticed a giant bright orange mushroom/fungus cluster on the trunk of a eucalyptus in my neighbor's parkway. Although I'm no mycologist, my online research leads me to believe it is a Laetiporus sulphureus or Chicken of the Woods.

Chicken of the Woods are edible, although I read warnings about Laetiporus sulphureus causing stomach upsets when harvested from the base of eucalyptus trees. I think it merits more research. I'm thinking about acquiring David Arora's All That the Rain Promises and More field guide to Western mushrooms, especially after spying the cover of the book. Who doesn't want to party with David Arora?

Strange Mushroom

This odd looking mushroom popped up the other day. Can anyone help identify it? Update: our friend Jeremy (Rancho Garbanzo) identified this as the common stinkhorn. Thanks Jeremy!

Here's my finger almost touching it for scale.

Shiitake Bloom - Lesson Learned

About a week ago, we noticed that our shiitake bag which Phoenix picked up at the Mycological Society event at the L.A. Arboretum, was in bloom.

They were pretty cramped in the bag so I carefully pulled it down to have a better look.

I harvested the biggest one then and put it in the fridge. Next I cut little holes for the rest of the mushrooms as I worked the bag back up and over the block.

I figured that it would allow the mushrooms to expand while keeping the block moist. Everything looked good for two days but on the third day in the morning I noticed that they were all drying out - halfway on their way to being dried Shiitake mushrooms. I checked the harvested one in the fridge and it still looked fresh picked after 2 days.

I am such a fan now of the fresh shiitakes that I am on a mission to generate a lasting source. I think next time I might try putting them in the fridge at night. I've also heard of small tents that keep the moisture in.

I harvested all the half dried mushrooms and we'll probably use them soon rather than dehydrate and save them but they are still in the fridge.