Description
This is a 10 ml syringe of living wine cap mycelium in a sterile nutrient broth. Each batch is grown from a single isolated culture, so the genetics stay the same from syringe to syringe. You inject it into sterilized grain to make spawn, then plant that spawn outdoors.
Wine cap caps are wine-red to burgundy when young, fading to tan-brown as they open, and they can reach the size of a dinner plate. The stems are thick and white with a wrinkled ring. The gills go from pale to gray to dark purple-brown.
Flavor and kitchen uses
Picked young, before the cap opens flat, wine cap has a mild, savory flavor. The Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association describes the texture and slight flavor of asparagus. Older caps get soft, so pick often.
- Saute in butter with garlic.
- Grill thick slices or whole young caps.
- Slice into stir-fries and pasta.
Growing profile
| Parameter | Wine cap |
|---|---|
| Spawn run on grain | Room temperature, about 70 to 75°F (21 to 24°C) |
| Bed colonization | Outdoors, 2 to 4 months after planting |
| Fruiting temperature | About 50 to 70°F (10 to 21°C), in spring and fall |
| Humidity | Keep the bed evenly moist. Water deeply every other day for the first 4 weeks, then in dry spells. |
| Light | Partial shade is best. Wine cap tolerates more sun than most mushrooms. |
| Fresh air | Outdoors, nothing to manage |
| Days to first harvest | 2 to 6 months after planting. A bed planted in mid fall usually fruits by June of the next year. |
| Syringe to first harvest | About 4 to 8 months, including the time to grow grain spawn (our estimate) |
| Substrates | Fresh hardwood chips 6 to 8 inches deep, or straw. Cover with about 2 inches of chips. |
| Typical yield | Straw beds usually fruit for one year and chip beds for up to three. We do not promise a weight per square foot. Yields swing with weather. |
Difficulty: Beginner. Once a bed is planted, wine cap takes care of itself. North Spore calls it perhaps the easiest mushroom to grow outdoors. The syringe step still takes basic clean technique to make grain spawn.
Tips for success
- Shake the syringe hard for 30 seconds to break up the mycelium. Wipe the injection port and needle with alcohol, then inject 1 to 2 ml per quart jar of sterilized grain. One syringe covers about 5 to 10 jars.
- One syringe’s worth of jars will not fill a big bed. Field and Forest uses about 5 lb of spawn for a 25 square foot bed, so expand your jars grain to grain until you have enough.
- Plant in spring or mid fall, in partial shade, on bare soil or cardboard.
- Layer spawn between fresh hardwood chips or straw, 6 to 8 inches deep, and cap with 2 inches of chips.
- Keep the bed moist for the first month. Spawn spreads slowly through dry chips.
- Pick caps young, while the edges still curl under and the gills are pale gray.
- Top up the bed with fresh chips each year to keep it fruiting.
Healthy culture or contamination. A healthy culture has clear to slightly hazy broth with white, cloud-like wisps or clumps of mycelium that settle when the syringe sits and spread out when you shake it. It smells mild or earthy. Warning signs are broth that turns evenly milky or murky and stays that way, a sour or rotten smell, a film or slime on the surface, or green, black or pink growth. If you are unsure, put a drop on an agar plate before you inoculate grain.
Kit includes
- One 10 ml luer-lock liquid culture syringe of living Stropharia rugosoannulata mycelium in sterile nutrient broth.
- One sterile needle.
- One alcohol prep pad.
To use it you also need sterilized grain jars or grain bags with an injection port, and hardwood chips or straw for the bed.
Storage
Refrigerate the syringe at 2 to 8°C (36 to 46°F) as soon as it arrives, and keep it in the dark. Do not freeze it. Use it within 3 months for the fastest, strongest growth. The mycelium stays alive longer in the fridge, but it slows with age. Before use, let the syringe warm to room temperature for a few hours and shake it well.
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