Growing mushrooms at home takes a little know-how.
Mushroom growers need a substrate in order to grow their mushrooms in safely sterilized containers. An effective substrate mixture must be able to retain moisture but not extreme amounts of it. Using brown rice flour for your substrate helps to hold the vermiculite in a solid cake form, adds nutrients to the mixture and allows for more productive mushroom growth. Does this Spark an idea?
Instructions
1. Pulverize 1/2 bag of brown rice in the food processor to a flour-like consistency. Keep adding rice until you have 1 full cup of brown rice flour. Set excess rice aside for another batch. You need more than 1 cup of rice to make 1 cup of rice flour --- keep adding rice until you get 1 cup of flour.
2. Add 1 cup water to 2 cups of vermiculite in a large bowl and mix well. The vermiculite should be airy and not in clumps, Stir until you get the desired result.
3. Add 1 cup of the brown rice flour to the bowl and mix well. Squeeze a small handful of the mixture to test the consistency --- it should hold together. Discard the handful to avoid contaminating the rest of the mixture with any spores that may be on your hand. Fill each of the five jars halfway with the mixture.
4. Wipe the inside part of the lid area of the jar with a paper towel to remove any contaminants that could ruin the growth of your mushrooms. The inside lid should be dry and free of vermiculite mixture.
5. Fill the rest of each jar with some dry vermiculite and level it off with a spoon. Place the lid rubber-side up on top of the jar and tighten the lid down firmly.
6. Wrap each jar in a layer of aluminum foil from the lid down. This will prevent the steam from running up under the foil and dripping down into the jar contents.
7. Place a layer of extra jar lids into the bottom of a deep boiling pot. Place a layer of aluminum foil over the lids and then add another layer of jar lids on top of the foil. Fill the pot with water up to the level of the second layer of jar lids.
8. Set each jar in the pot side by side, place a tight lid on top and begin boiling the water. Once the water has reached a rolling boil, turn the heat down slightly. The water should still be bubbling.
9. Let the jars boil for 90 minutes from the time the rolling boil starts, adding water as necessary to keep the pot from boiling dry. When the 90 minutes are up, turn off the burner and let the water cool.
10. Remove the jars from the boiler and set aside in a cool, dark space. Your brown rice substrate is now ready to be inoculated with the mushroom spores of your choice.
Tags: rice flour, brown rice, brown rice flour, adding rice, adding rice until, aluminum foil