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Our Brown Beech is a first-generation Hypsizygus tessellatus isolate, the buna-shimeji. It grows in tight clusters of small marbled-tan caps on firm stems that stay crisp through cooking, and it fruits colder than anything else we carry.
Small caps and firm stems that keep their bite in stir-fries, clear soups and pan sauces instead of going soft.
It fruits at 45–65°F, colder than Blue Oyster or Chestnut. Ideal for an unheated basement or garage in winter.
Rich, mildly sweet and nutty after heat. Raw, it's bitter, so it's never a salad mushroom.
Let the syringe reach room temperature, then shake it gently to break up and spread the mycelium through the broth.
Flame the needle until it glows, let it cool a few seconds, and wipe the injection port with the included alcohol pad.
Use 2–3cc per quart jar or 3–5cc per 3–5 lb grain bag. One 10cc syringe inoculates about 2–4 containers.
Keep it at 68–80°F in the dark. Shake once at about 30% colonization to speed things up.
Keep it cold: Brown Beech won't fruit well in a warm room. If your space stays above about 65°F, grow an oyster instead and save this one for winter.
From our lab to your grainRun it into jars with wide-mouth cultivation lids or your own lids with self-healing injection ports. Spare 16G needles and sterile Luer Lock syringes are sold separately.
Use 2–3cc per quart grain jar and 3–5cc per 3–5 lb spawn bag. One 10cc Brown Beech syringe inoculates roughly two to four containers. Using more doesn't speed colonization much; it just uses up the syringe.
About 18 days at 68–80°F, then roughly 20 days to harvest once you drop the temperature into the 45–65°F fruiting range.
Rye berries for spawn, then supplemented hardwood sawdust or straw for bulk. Supplemented sawdust gives the denser, more uniform clusters.
Yes. Raw beech mushrooms are bitter. Cooking removes the bitterness completely and brings out a sweet, nutty flavor with a firm, slightly crunchy texture.
Refrigerate it at 35–45°F in the bag it shipped in and never freeze it; freezing ruptures the cells and kills the culture. Bring it to room temperature and shake gently before you inject.
Liquid culture is living mycelium from an isolated culture, so it skips germination, colonizes days faster and gives genetically consistent fruits. Spores have to germinate and pair up first, which is slower and more variable from grow to grow.
Liquid culture is living mycelium, so every syringe leaves our lab in a foil-lined insulated mailer. The insulation buffers it against summer heat in a delivery truck and against sub-freezing winter temperatures, so it arrives viable either way.
When it arrives: refrigerate the syringe at 35–45°F until you're ready to inoculate. Never freeze it. Bring it to room temperature and shake gently before use.
Price: $12.50