Spawn: buying and making your own

In short

• Buy fresh spawn of a known species and strain from a producer who states the production date. Order it to arrive in the week you use it.
• Good spawn is dense, white and smells of fresh mushrooms. Green, black, orange or pink patches, slime and a sour smell mean: don't use it.
• Store it at 2–4 °C (36–39 °F), closed; don't freeze. Before use, 12–24 h at room temperature.
• Expanding on cardboard works for oysters with no equipment. Grain, sawdust and plugs need sterilisation at 121 °C (250 °F; an autoclave or a pressure canner with a gauge) and clean technique.
• Expand at most 2–3 generations from bought spawn, then buy new.

What's inside

Chapters

1. Forms of spawn
2. Buying: from whom and what to ask
3. How much spawn you need
4. Expanding your own: when and why
5. Oysters on cardboard, no sterilisation
6. Clean technique
7. Grain spawn in jars
8. Sawdust and plugs for logs
9. Culture from a fresh mushroom
10. Common mistakes
11. Printable checklist

Worksheets

• Spawn calendar
• Spawn calculator
• Grain jar recipe
• Jar date calculator
• Jar and generation log
• Questions for the supplier
• Labels for jars and bags