Perkins, OK (PRWEB) May 29, 2013
Father's Day gifting time is fast approaching. June 16 is the target date, and the preparation starts now. Shiitake mushrooms logs are a perfect surprise for dads who love to garden, cook on the grill, eat well.
Shiitakes are fun to grow at home, according to The Mushroom Lady, Sandra Williams, owner of Lost Creek Mushroom Farm. What better gift than healthy food and the pleasure of growing things?
A shiitake log is a chunk of hardwood loaded with mushroom seed material, called spawn. Soak it in ice water and in a few days, little buds or pins poke through the bark. Every day the mushrooms stretch and expand. In week or so, they are fully grown, beautiful, and ready to eat.
Most shiitakes found in grocery stores are grown on sterilized sawdust. The Mushroom Lady explained that Shiitakes grown on hardwood logs are more dense, more flavorful, and contain higher levels of the nutrients that make shiitakes one of the healthiest and most popular mushrooms in the world.
The logs grow inside like plants year-round and can live outside in shade during the spring and fall. Fruiting, or mushroom production, comes from soaking it in ice water and lowering the internal temperature of the log. After fruiting, the log rests for two months with regular soaking in room-temperature, non-chlorinated water.
The ice-water soak is called shocking and triggers the fruiting. According to Williams, Shocking imitates the 20-degree drop in temperature that comes with summer and fall rainy seasons and tricks the logs into fruiting.
At first logs produce a few mushrooms, but as they mature they grow increasingly larger crops until the third and fourth years when the harvest tapers off. Then the used-up log can go into the compost pile or be turned under the soil, which makes the soil disease resistant. Perfect for gardeners.
Lost Creek Mushroom Farm Kits start at $ 18 for a 6 Shroomie. The Single Log Kit with a 10 log sells for $ 30. The Original Tray Kit is $ 55, featuring a 14 log with its own tray for soaking, fruiting, and resting. All prices include shipping and handling.
Kits with two logs will provide shiitakes every month. When fruited together, they more than double the typical single-log harvest, because of a pheromone effect, Sandra said. The Ma and Pa kit with two 10 logs sells for $ 50 and the Best Buy is $ 90 for two 14 Original Tray Kits shipped to the same address, a savings of $ 20 on two logs. "I like to say, give one as a gift and keep one for yourself!"
Online purchases can be made at http://www.shiitakemushroomlog.com. The number for phone orders and requests for free brochures is 1-800-792-0053. Kits are available at Amazon.com at slightly higher prices.
A portion of sales is donated to the Mushrooms in Ghana Project and to The Voice of the Mushroom Foundation, founded by Sandra and her husband Doug Williams, dedicated to promoting education about the health benefits of mushrooms and promoting mushroom production worldwide.
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