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Grow Mushrooms - savour their flavour

Some of the subtlest flavours and tastes in cooking are produced by mushrooms, and yet in most greengrocers or supermarkets the varieties on offer are comparatively limited. Only if you grow your own, can you have a year-round supply of a wide range of varieties of delicious mushrooms of your own choice.

Mushrooms have a bad reputation. For many gardeners, fungi are not welcome, because some of the relatives of edible mushrooms are serious diseases of our garden plants. For many people who grow up in the country, mushrooms are something to fear because a few of them are very seriously poisonous. The sensible advice when collecting foraging for wild mushrooms is basically “don’t!”.

Mushrooms are also a bit odd, from a biological point of view. They don’t move around and they emerge from the soil, so they seem a bit like plants. Furthermore, they don’t eat other organisms, in the way that animals do, and this makes them seem even more plant-like. Yet mushrooms are much more closely related to animals than to plants. Partly, this is because mushrooms get their nutrition from breaking down dead stuff (as do we), whereas plants get their energy from the sun.

The fact that mushrooms do not need light means that they can be grown in the dark. Many of us have a warm dark place in our houses. This may be a cupboard in the garage, or the cupboard under the stairs (once Harry Potter has left home). Once you have learned the basics of growing mushrooms, it is very straightforward to have a succession of fresh ingredients for cooking. One of the reasons that mushrooms are so simple to grow is that there are very few pesticides involved because these taint the flavour of the produce, or even worse, kill them.

The flavour of fresh food that you have grown yourself and harvested just before cooking is always much more intense than the fruit and vegetables that you buy in the greengrocer’s shop or supermarket. Mushrooms are no exception. If you have not grown your own mushrooms before, then now is the time to start!

ACS offer a great selection of eBook resources on Growing Mushrooms and other foods. If you want to learn more, take a look at our courses - these include -

A 100 hour tutor supported course in Mushroom Production. You can start at any time to suit you and work at your own pace.

Or a 500 hour Proficiency Award in Self Sufficiency with a Specialism in Mushrooms. Study the Proficiency Award and look to live a more natural life, learn about being self sufficient health, nutrition, clothing and more, plus a specialism in the production of Mushrooms.

If you want to find our more about living a more self-sufficient lifestyle or growing your own fruit and vegetables, but don't know which course to choose, please get in touch with our specialist Horticulture tutors today. They will be happy to answer any questions and explain to you the benefits of studying with ACS.

[28/03/2024 23:19:48]

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