King Trumpet Mushroom

King Trumpet Mushroom (Pleurotus eryngii)



I have not grown these, but today I got the pleasure of being able to cook it. I am looking forward to trying to grow them in the future. This mushroom is easily enjoyed by slicing in quarter inch rounds. These are then fried in a hot pan on both sides until a light golden brown. The best comparison I can give for a taste and texture is scallops. The mushroom is a touch chewier than real scallops but it did not take away from the experience.

Does anyone else have recommendations for uses/recipes for King Trumpet?

I have never tasted them though I thought I would suggest how I like to eat mushrooms.

My all-time favorite is with pizza, you know that kind of pizza with everything on it.

Next, I like mushrooms in a sauce for steak.

Also they are good in spaghetti sauce and cream soup.

I’ve had some very good mushroom jerky made with them.

It is in the oyster mushroom family and the only place I've had them is while eating at Asian and Asian Fusion restaurants. There aren't any secrets, they seem pretty straightforward to cook. A wok or pan, a little oil, garlic and onion, preferably a delicate green onion or chive, and toss for a minute or two. They are meaty. I would imagine they'd be excellent on pizza in place of the standard white button or 'bella shrooms.

j

Timothy Norton wrote:King Trumpet Mushroom (Pleurotus eryngii)



I have not grown these, but today I got the pleasure of being able to cook it, but I am not looking forward to trying to grow them in the future. This mushroom is easily enjoyed by slicing in quarter inch rounds. These are then fried in a hot pan on both sides until a light golden brown. The best comparison I can give for a taste and texture is scallops. The mushroom is a touch chewier than real scallops but it did not take away from the experience.

Does anyone else have recommendations for uses/recipes for King Trumpet?

Timothy may have started something here, because I've seen a couple posts about pizza. And I mentioned Asian Fusion. So, let's build an Asian Fusion pizza with King  Trumpet Mushrooms as a main ingredient? Once we reach a consensus, those of us hearty enough to build it can have a pizza party (digital) and post the results.

Timothy added the first ingredient with the mushrooms. I'll add a second with the crust: Let's go gluten-free with a nice rice crust with a bit of garlic and chili flakes. Next?

(sorry to hijack your thread, brother...) ;)

j

I am trying king oysters (and mushroom cultivation in general) the first time this year. I sprinkled some grain spawn in layers in a milkjug planter along with plant material, soil, and a little mashed sensitive fern root (a failed attempt to extract starch) in a manner that would horrify any true mushroom grower, and put the cut-off top back on the jug to hold in moisture. The inspiration is their natural habitat growing on the roots of trees. We shall see how it goes.

I am also trying with pasteurized sawdust and possibly unpasteurized if it works out (Peter McCoy in Radical Mycology mentions oysters as being mushrooms that tolerate that treatment but other sources say that king oyster is picky.

I am surprised! The mycelium is thriving on the mashed fern root. I am guessing they love the mucilage and pro-fungal compounds that the root contains. I am thinking maybe sensitive fern extract/juice could be a good mycotrophic supplement/fungus food. On the other hand some of the grain spawn looks like it might be a little wet and getting eaten up by bacteria, especially towards the bottom where there is an excess of moisture.

Not the sensitive fern area but some growth:

That is really exciting!

Thank you for sharing your progress, I have not previously considered trying to grow them on unpasteurized medium but this seems very promising. I might try to get a spore print from some locally obtained trumpet and give it a shot myself.

These are still the very beginning stages and their trials are yet to come, I think... but I'm hoping!

They seem to have had no problems with contamination. My thought is that the diverse habitat, with both soil and wood present, allowed each species to take their own niche rather than competing for one homogenized mass of something. Whatever it is, they are thriving. They have also made primordia on some pieces of mycelium that had dislodged but may have paused on that when I secured the mycelium back into place, and found that the brown paper towel I used to plug gaps in the edges is quite tasty as well.

Perhaps you might find these 2 recipes helpful.... (I'm partial to Asian foods)

Soy Buttered Glazed King Oyster Mushrooms

https://thewoksoflife.com/soy-butter-glazed-king-oyster-mushrooms/

King Oyster Mushrooms with Garlicky Glass Noodles
https://thewoksoflife.com/king-oyster-mushrooms-glass-noodles/

J Garlits wrote:Timothy may have started something here, because I've seen a couple posts about pizza. And I mentioned Asian Fusion. So, let's build an Asian Fusion pizza with King  Trumpet Mushrooms as a main ingredient? Once we reach a consensus, those of us hearty enough to build it can have a pizza party (digital) and post the results.

Timothy added the first ingredient with the mushrooms. I'll add a second with the crust: Let's go gluten-free with a nice rice crust with a bit of garlic and chili flakes. Next?

(sorry to hijack your thread, brother...) ;)
j

Let me suggest a rich, garlicky bechamel sauce over the rice crust and under the 'shooms.

Easy meal, side or snack: Slice them thick from top to bottom and marinate them with soy sauce and ground fresh ginger (or mix powdered ginger into the soy sauce) before grilling them for a mouthwatering treat. Thanks to Nami Chin at Just One Cookbook.

Maieshe Ljin wrote:I am trying king oysters (and mushroom cultivation in general) the first time this year. I sprinkled some grain spawn in layers in a milkjug planter along with plant material, soil, and a little mashed sensitive fern root (a failed attempt to extract starch) in a manner that would horrify any true mushroom grower, and put the cut-off top back on the jug to hold in moisture. The inspiration is their natural habitat growing on the roots of trees. We shall see how it goes.

I am also trying with pasteurized sawdust and possibly unpasteurized if it works out (Peter McCoy in Radical Mycology mentions oysters as being mushrooms that tolerate that treatment but other sources say that king oyster is picky.

This is so interesting... I'm a mushroom grower/teach mushroom growing (and am totally unhorrified at your approach, haha) I'm curious about the effect of the sensitive fern root on growth rates and am totally going to tinker with that, I wonder how it would hold up in a pressure cooker adding juice or puree from it to a culture or agar. You might be onto something.

If growth slows down at all, you might want to try using strips of paper bandage tape to cover the top hole on the milk jug instead of the cut off part of the top, or you could tape a coffee filter on there. Kings like to grow out of the top of the container, so a little extra airflow up there helps them know which way to grow.

Looking forward to seeing how they turn out:)

Erin

Thank you for the advice! I did move the mycelia to a larger, more open topped container with more food as they were looking a little cramped, hoping they will grow more before fruiting. They seemed to be trying to fruit but not having enough water so I hope they are still well enough to jump off and live.

The mashed fern root may have been fermented slightly. I left the pieces in a bowl, wet, for a few days before using. And the second time I used fern root, it was simply dried and pounded, and the medium was quickly colonized by a Rhizopus-looking mould. The other time I used fermented media, in a bag that I had started the same day, I had left some goosefoot and jewelweed stalks in a bowl of water and it began to grow slimy and fermented. When I mixed that with cacao husk and king Stropharia spawn, they ate the fermented stalks with great appetite and spread quickly. It may also be that different species like different media and that the sensitive fern was a good food for king oyster and maybe less so for stropharia, but it may be the fermented, watery, nutritious nature of them that attracted them the most.

Cacao husks were a great mistake! They are a favorite food of Rhizopus stolonifer, the common bread mold. (Trying tempeh with that species is on my to-do list…) But fortunately the king oyster is still vital, still coherent, and I see the beginnings of mushrooms.

I tried outdoor cultivation of king oyster… on sawdust. That was a mistake. They hate sawdust it seems. So do regular oysters, or at least the sawdust I have used. (Maybe it contains conifer wood?) Fortunately I have a lot more use for sawdust than just mushrooms. It is an excellent soil building material and worm food!

Originally I added king trumpet grain spawn to the sawdust. There was an initial flush of growth before they all died back. Now, the sawdust bed is mostly free of mycelium but wriggling with worms of many sorts. Except for stropharia, none of the species have seemed to appreciate this sawdust, at all. But, if I dig around within the sawdust, I can find twigs and leaves that are colonized by a thick, fuzzy white mycelium. I did mix the last of the wine cap spawn in too, but it looked barely viable. Some could have hung on there though. I didn’t smell the mycelium—that might tell me which species.

I also mixed some blewit spawn in a few days ago in case they might help the decomposition process. But I think the king oyster did hang in there on pieces of bark and twigs. The mycelium was fuzzy as opposed to the ropey stropharia mycelium. I will probably try overwintering them in a non-freezing place in a pot or jar.

i love to eat these. they really shine on their own- I usually slice them and fry them very lightly in a pan with some butter or sesame oil, and that's it. I don't let them cook down very much. they are amazing and i wish i could buy them locally (usually only when I travel to a very big city, or if I'm lucky enough to find them from a local producer once in a blue moon).