Favorite mushroom for flavor

Of the mushrooms that can be successfully cultivated what are your favorites?

I've only eaton morels, oysters, and chanterelles, and meadow mushrooms. Morels are my favorites, but I know they aren't often grown successfully. Meadow mushrooms are my second favorite of the few I've tried,  I believe they can be cultivated. Oysters and chanterelles are OK but don't come close to morels. I guess chanterelles are almost impossible to cultivate.

I wondering, just on the basis of flavor, what else I should try to grow? I'm growing or trying to grow, three kinds of morels, oysters, and stropharia rugosa annulata.

I know everyone's favorites won't be the same.

Chanterelles are also really hard to cultivate.  I like Shiitake the best of the ones I cultivate.  I like morels but seeing as I'm not a Tradd Cotter level of mushroom expertise person, I'll leave that to them. I eventually aspire to cultivate several varieties, but I've got kids at home and lots of hobbies such as my food forest so I'll have to wait.
John S
PDX OR

Ustilago maydis is the easiest mushroom for me to cultivate. It was my super last night. Gotta keep a close eye on it during fruiting season though, cause I don't like it after it turns black.

Hi Joseph,
Does it have a common name? Is it a rare mushroom? Relatively unknown?
Thanks,
John S
PDX OR

That's corn smut right?  I don't know how to spell the Mexican name. I have never eaten it. When I was a kid it used to be on our sweetcorn a lot. I haven't seen it in years. Do you encourage it on your corn somehow?  Do you still get some good sweetcorn? Sweetcorn is my favorite garden crop.

King Stropharia or Winecaps for taste hands down.

In Mexico, corn smut is called huitlacoche. They pay big bucks for it at fancy restaurants, but Mexican gardeners seem to get it for free.
John S

Ken W Wilson wrote:That's corn smut right?  I don't know how to spell the Mexican name. I have never eaten it. When I was a kid it used to be on our sweetcorn a lot. I haven't seen it in years. Do you encourage it on your corn somehow?  Do you still get some good sweetcorn? Sweetcorn is my favorite garden crop.

I neither encourage corn smut, nor discourage it. It grows on about 1% of my old-fashioned sweet corn plants. If I detassel the stalks, corn smut  often grows from the wound, so I can harvest the mushroom, without sacrificing a cob of corn.  

I need to try shiitake. I've got the wine caps planted. I think I'll try that with the corn. Thanks everybody!

I'm looking for corn smut spores or spawn. Any ideas where to get it?
I had it in a restaurant in Phoenix that specialized in it and loved it. I'd grow corn just for the smut,although we also love the corn.
I recently started a wine cap patch,although I did it right before a cold snap and haven't seen any signs of life. I hope I didn't lose it.
I have also grown Lion's mane and oyster indoors. I have a maitake indoors almost ready to eat but haven't tasted it,yet. I had tons of meadow mushrooms in my pasture after the hurricane but I wasn't confident in my I'd at the time so didn't try them. I did find a two pound lion's mane this winter and it tasted awesome. Can't wait to try the maitake and wine caps.
Oh,I found one tiny morel two years ago. Cooked it up to try it and I'd say it was my favorite so far.

Shiitake has great flavor, but my favorite has to be Lobster. Lobster mushrooms are the best flavor, hands down, just need to scrub all the grit off of them if found wild.

Tracy you can find most kinds of mushroom spawn by asking on the Facebook group, mycology and botany classifieds.

My favorite flavored mushroom is whatever happens to be in season, and on my plate today.

I second what Joseph says. If its growing by now its my favorite. I don't cultivate any here yet, but we have several awesome wild varieties that pop up with the rains. Kids will go out and collect a bag full and sell them to me for twenty cents. And we have a delightfully huge variety that only grows on termite mounds. The things can get as big as umbrellas. We usually pick them at dinner plate size though, before people notice and steal it. One mushroom can make a whole meal for our family.

When I do get myself organized I will probably go with oysters. Easy to grow and easy to dry.

Now I have to go learn more about corn smut. This is a new thing to me. I usually find a few effected ears and discard them. I didn't know it was an edible thing.

Ken W Wilson wrote:Tracy you can find most kinds of mushroom spawn by asking on the Facebook group, mycology and botany classifieds.

Thank you! Not something I ever would have thought of.

I ate the maitake. It was delicious!
Lions mane was good but slightly bitter to me. Maitake was delicate and had a great flavor/texture both.