I recently purchased an indoor shiitake mushroom kit. Growing mushrooms is perfect for me, because my home doesn’t get a whole lot of natural sun. I’ve harvested a couple of mushrooms and thought I’d share the pictures.

Here is my mushroom patch. It is in the rubbermaid bin to keep spores from dirtying the carpet. The mister bottle is to the right. The plastic beyond the mister bottle is a humidity tent, and the skewers in the patch help hold the tent up. You can see a new mushroom at the right of the far end of the patch.

The kit came with a number of recipes, but so far I've just been sauteeing the mushrooms in a bit of oil or butter. It's delicious.

I have read that the stems get too tough for cooking, so I boil the stems for soup stock. I then freeze the stock for future use.
Here’s my shitake cooking recipe so far.
Ingredients
- fresh shiitake mushrooms
- oil or butter
Directions
- Wash the mushrooms
- Cut off their stalks, save for boiling in water to make soup stock
- Slice caps in half, then cut into sections
- Heat oil or butter in pan on medium-low
- Add mushrooms
- Sautee until done. The color will change and they will cook down.
- Serve hot
Mmmmmmm…..

Bacon is good // May 19, 2009 at 9:26 am
I’m VERY impressed by your mushroom patch. That is so awesome. And shiitakes (shitake?) are definitely the best mushroom ever.
Mixed Greens // May 19, 2009 at 9:31 am
Thanks for the spelling correction :).
Bacon Is Good // May 19, 2009 at 9:33 am
No problem :) I was hoping to rely on Firefox’s red underline to advise me if it was shitake or shiitake. But it underlines both as incorrect!
Mushrooms Canada // May 19, 2009 at 11:43 am
I do the same thing with my shiitake and portabella stems. I make a stock and then freeze it for use later. It adds more flavour to my soups and gravies.
- Brittany