this post was submitted on 27 Feb 2024
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There was a subreddit about uncleben brand rice, which is sold pre-cooked in pouches. The sub was not about eating the rice, but as a growth medium for various fungi. The rice is the perfect nutrient and moisture content, and it’s sterile. Mushroom spores are prone to contamination for a couple weeks while they get established, so it’s a fairly reliable way to get started, without owning a pressure cooker. Any pouch of shelf stable pre-cooked grain should be a suitable substrate for this type of mushroom, which in the wild actually grows on manure.
So genuine question... If I did this and checked the clear window of the bag, about how long would I have to wait to open the bag. Hypothetically if I shot some spores into a bag and don't notice anything after a few weeks... Would it be a loss?
Well I’ve never done it myself but white mycelium would form a kind of solid mass between all the rice grains. It might be hard to tell white on white. But it would feel solid, like requiring some effort to crumble. At warm temperatures (75-80F) I would imagine about 3-4 weeks would be sufficient. At cooler temperatures I don’t know. Usually you’d find out that you inoculated some kind of mold, but it is possible the spores didn’t make it in or they were unviable. But from mycelium, then there are a variety of techniques to get the mycelium to fruit, typically involving a new food source and a light source.