**The Joys of Growing and Cooking with Oyster Mushrooms**

As I sat down to cook, I couldn't help but feel a sense of excitement and anticipation. Today's recipe was going to feature one of my favorite ingredients: oyster mushrooms. I had been growing them in the garden for weeks, and finally, they were ripe and ready to be harvested. The instructions included with the kit said that we could get more mushrooms from this by repeating the steps that we did prior, and I couldn't wait to try it out.

I started by slicing off a handful of the oyster mushrooms, admiring their delicate appearance. They were so fragile that I didn't even need a knife to break them - just my fingers would do. I was also eager to show off my latest culinary creation: a faux chicken sandwich made with chicken-of-the-wood mushroom that my husband and son had found on their walk. The combination of mushrooms, onions, and bread was absolute magic, and I couldn't wait to share the recipe with all of you.

As I began to sauté the mushrooms in butter, the aroma filled the kitchen, tantalizing my taste buds and making my stomach growl with anticipation. I added a sprinkle of sharp cheddar cheese on top and let it melt into the creamy sauce. Meanwhile, I toasted some bread, the sound of which was almost musical - a perfect accompaniment to the sizzling mushrooms.

While the toast was still warm, I transferred the mushrooms to a plate and arranged them artfully on top. The presentation was almost too beautiful to eat - but, of course, that's not an option when it comes to cooking. Next, I added a glass of wine to complete the meal: a Jumble Sale Chardonnay from Bright Cellars. The wine had a full body and a smooth texture, with hints of acidity that perfectly complemented the sweet nuttiness of the mushrooms.

As I took my first bite, all the flavors exploded on my palate - salty, nutty, golden, buttery, and crisp. It was like a symphony of textures and tastes, each one elevating the others to create something truly special. And the best part? These oyster mushrooms were grown from toilet paper - yes, you read that right! With a little bit of care and attention, even the humblest of materials can become something beautiful and delicious.

The combination of the creamy sauce, the crunch of the bread, and the chew of the mushroom was absolute perfection. I couldn't help but wonder what other flavors would pair well with these delicate mushrooms - perhaps an Emmentaler or a Gruyere cheese? The possibilities were endless, and I was excited to experiment further.

As I finished my meal and sat back in my chair, I felt grateful for the simple pleasures in life. Cooking is one of them - it's a way to connect with nature, with other people, and with ourselves. And when we share that experience with others, whether through a video or a recipe, it becomes something even more special.

**Recipe:** Oyster Mushroom Toast

Ingredients:

* 1 handful oyster mushrooms

* 2 tablespoons butter

* 1 slice bread (Durham loaf)

* 1/4 cup sharp cheddar cheese

* Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:

1. Slice the oyster mushrooms into thin pieces.

2. Sauté them in butter until they're caramelized and tender.

3. Toast the bread until it's crispy.

4. Arrange the mushrooms on top of the toast, followed by a sprinkle of cheddar cheese.

5. Steam the cheese for a few minutes to allow it to melt.

6. Serve immediately.

**Wine Pairing:** Jumble Sale Chardonnay (Bright Cellars)

For an added touch, try pairing your oyster mushroom toast with a glass of wine from Bright Cellars. Their Jumble Sale Chardonnay has a smooth texture and hints of acidity that perfectly complement the sweet nuttiness of the mushrooms.

**Growing Oyster Mushrooms at Home**

If you're interested in growing oyster mushrooms yourself, it's relatively easy to do so. Start by ordering a mushroom kit online or from a local nursery. Follow the instructions provided with the kit to prepare the growing environment and care for the mushrooms. With a little bit of patience and attention, you'll be harvesting fresh oyster mushrooms in no time!

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: en(bright upbeat music)- Greetings my beautiful lovelies.It's Emmy. How are you?It's great to see you, and welcome back.Today's video is sponsoredby Bright Cellarswho bring you wines that are curatedfor your personal taste.You take the seven question quizto gather information aboutyour taste preferences.And Bright Cellars will send you wineright to your doorstep,based on your preferences.Which is really great becauseI often feel overwhelmedwhen it comes to wine choices,yet I like to try new things.Bright Cellars also includesthese little handy-dandyeducational cards,which I really enjoybecause I love learning alittle bit more about the wine.It tells you the besttemperature to serve it at,where it comes from,and food that pairs well with the wine.So after I taste my wine, I can rate it,and Bright Cellars can furthertailor my taste preferences.So if you'd like to tryBright Cellars for yourself,click my link down belowand get 50% off your first six-bottle box,plus a bonus bottle.Take the quiz and get started.Big thanks to Bright Cellarsfor sponsoring this videoand for their continued support.So today, I'm gonna showyou how to grow mushrooms.I adore mushrooms.My husband and I loveforaging for mushrooms.We go way back, waybefore we had children,back when we lived in Montana,we loved foraging for morels.We spent some time inthe Pacific Northwest,loved hunting for chanterelles.And just hunting formushrooms is just so much fun.Mushrooms are beautiful.They're amazing.They're fungi.And they're absolutely delicious.So I have grown mushrooms beforefrom a kit that was gifted to me,but I've never actually grown themfrom mycelia spawn before.So I purchased a kit fromFields & Forest Products,and I'm gonna show youhow to grow mushroomsfrom toilet paper.(Emmy screeching)Toilet paper is so great.This is a kit thatspecifically teaches youhow to grow mushrooms using toilet paper.Toilet paper, of course, ismade from plant or wood pulpand is very absorbent.And it is the perfect substratefor growing oyster mushrooms.When I saw this kit, Iknew I had to buy it.I knew I had to do it with my children.So let me walk you through the stepsof the Oyster Mushroom T.P. Project.(Emmy laughing)So this project began about two months agowhen I ordered my kit,and it came with threedifferent types of grains spawn.So this grain,I believe it might be wheatberries that has been inoculatedwith a very specifictype of spawn or mycelia.So the mushroom itselfis just the fruiting bodyor how it disseminates the sporesso it can reproduce.And there's a huge mycelianetwork that's undergroundthat is integral to somany trees and plantsbecause it's so efficientin taking up water.So this kit is a large one.It comes with threedifferent types of mycelia,and you can inoculate up to21 rolls of toilet paper.This would be great fora classroom setting.I really want to try thesedifferent varieties of mushroomsso I purchased this one.And it was greatbecause I sent some leftoverspawn to my brother.So hopefully he and his kidswere able to grow mushrooms as well.So, the first thing you'regonna need is some toilet paperand a large pot of boiling water.Your toilet paper needs to beunscented and free of dyes.So when you get your big potof boiling water boiling,you can use a pair of tongs,and quickly dip one sideof the toilet paper inand the other.Now, as you probably know,toilet paper is very absorbent.So there's no need to put the toilet paperin there for very long.Just one second, one second,because it sucks up a ton of waterand then it starts to disintegrate.And then place it on a rack to cool.And the instructions say,if you like, you can remove the corethat will allow the myceliato get into the toilet paper a lot faster.So dipping the toilet paperinto the boiling water does two things.Number one, it hydrates it.Water is very important to mushrooms.And number two, it kills anypotential competing bacteriathat might want to competewith what we're trying to grow,which is a fungus.So we're gonna let thetoilet paper cool off.We don't want it to be too hot.Otherwise, it'll kill our mushrooms.So to avoid cross contamination,we're gonna handle thetoilet paper using the tongsand we're going to place itinto the bags that are provided.So I found rolling thebags down very helpful.Try not to touch the inside of the bag.Transfer the wet toilet paperinto the middle of the bag.And make sure if you've gotdifferent varieties of myceliato label your bags,so you know what you'veinoculated your toilet paper with.So now we're gonna take our bag of myceliaand crush it up a littlebit to separate the grains.And then just cut the corner off.And then, we're gonna fillthe inside of the toilet paperwith the mycelia grainsup to the very top.We're gonna draw up the plastic bag,and then take the rubberbands that are providedand seal it at the top.And make sure you secureit above the filter patch.It's important that themushrooms can still breathe.So now, we're going to takeour inoculated toilet paperand put them in an undisturbed spotat around 65 to 75 degrees.I just put them in the closetand place them in therefor four to six weeks.So what's happening here.We're encouraging themycelia from the grainsto start growing into the toilet paper.So in the first week,I noticed that the entire toilet paperstarted getting coveredwith this white mycelia,the grains too were covered.And I just let them sit.I was going there andpeek, take a look at them.And I also noticed thisreally lovely smell.It almost smelled like anextract, almost cinnamon-y,kind of sweet.People often think of like stinky shoesbut this was very pleasant and sweet.And we're going to take the entire bagand place it in therefrigerator for 48 hours.These cold temperaturesare simulating winter,a period of dormancy.So after 48 hours, weremove the rubber bandand opened the bag slightly,and allows warm air to enter the bag.I purchased this misterand I really love it.It creates a really fine mist.And so, just check on your mushrooms.If they look like they'regetting a little dry,give them a mist.But don't let any watercollect at the bottombecause too much water is not good either.So when you're waiting foryour mushrooms to fruit,you're gonna put them in a spotthat gets some filtered sunlight.After just a couple of days,I started to see mushrooms.It was so stinking cool.You can just see these little tiny,these strips of little babymushrooms start coming up.And it was so interestingto see the three different varietiesbecause they had differentgrowing patterns.This is one of my Italian mushrooms.(Emmy sniffing)So beautiful.Isn't that incredible?It looks like antlers or something.Now the kit specifies,if you really want aprolific amount of mushrooms,toilet paper is not the best substrate.But this is great fordemonstrating to childrenhow mushrooms are suchwonderful decomposers.So now I'm gonna show youone of my favorite ways to eat mushrooms.And it's simply on a good piece of toast.Make this your own.Feel free to tailor this tohowever you like your mushrooms.So now, we're gonna harvestthese beautiful mushrooms.These are the Italians,and I'm just gonna use my knife hereand cut them right off.Ah, so beautiful.Look at that.That is huge.So the instructionsincluded in the kit saythat we can get more mushrooms from thisif we just repeat thesteps that we did prior.I'm gonna try some of these as well.These are the gray oyster mushrooms.My golden ones aren't quite ready yet.I'm gonna let them continue growing.So oyster mushrooms are so delicate,you don't even need aknife to break them --you can just tear them withyour fingers, like that.Did you ever see that fauxchicken sandwich I madewith chicken-of-the-wood mushroomthat my husband and myson found on their walk?Amazing.I'll put a link down below to that videobecause so, so, so good.Mushrooms and onions are best friends.And I often saute my mushrooms with onion.But today I'm keeping it simple --just gonna use a little bit of butter.So while that's melting up,I'm going to slice some bread.(paper bag rattling)Durham loaf here.Love the sound of bread.(bread crunching)- That looks good.In go a handful of mushrooms.(pan sizzling)I'm just gonna sweat these up a bit.Don't disturb them.Just let them sit there.(pan sizzling)And now I'm going to prepare my toast.So, add a little bit more butter.Uh-hum.Don't want the heat too high.Toast up that bread.(pan sizzling)Beautiful.Turn my toast over.Get crispy on the other side.So I'm gonna transfer mymushrooms to up the plate.And I'm gonna add some sharpcheddar cheese right on top.Just gonna cover it.Gonna steam it a little bitto allow the cheese to melt a bit.Alrighty. My toast should be ready.Okay. Look at that.Look at that.I am going to arrange,my mushroom is right on top.(classical music)So with my mushroom toast,I'm gonna have a glass of wine.I'm going to try theJumble Sale Chardonnay.(wine pouring)Cheers.(Emmy swallowing)Hm.Not tannic-y as most chardonnays are.Refreshing.Very full body.It has a very kind ofviscous texture to it.I think it's gonna go really nicelywith my mushroom toast.Let's give my cheesymushroom toast a taste.Here we go.Itadakimasu.(Emmy chewing)(Emmy sighing)So, so delicious.Salty, nutty, golden, buttery, crisp.Delicious.So good.(Emmy chewing)(Emmy sighing)(Emmy giggling)The wine actually goesreally well with thatbecause the acidity really complimentsthe sweet nuttiness of the mushrooms.Oyster mushrooms are someof my favorite mushrooms.They caramelize deeply.They have lots of inherent sugars in thembut they have a nicewide range of flavors.The Golden mushrooms that I've tasted,those have a really complex,almost funky sea, brine-y,ocean-y flavor to them.While these have a nice nuttiness.This is a combination of boththe Gray and the Italian.They're sweet.And they pair so nicely withthe cheese and the butter.I mean, butter goes with everything.But butter really goes wellwith mushrooms, in my opinion.So delicious.And we have some beautiful textures here.We have the chew of the bread,the crunch of the bread,with that kind of crisp, caramelizationthat happens on the thin oyster mushrooms.(Emmy sighing)(bread crunching)(Emmy chewing)Outstanding.It is so, so simpleyet so, so good.It's so good.So I made this with a nicesharp, dry cheddar cheesebut I think this would also go really wellwith a nice aged Swiss style cheese,like an Emmentaler or a Gruyere.That nuttiness I think wouldgo so well with the mushroomsand the crunchy toast and butter.(Emmy chewing)(Emmy clapping)And to think I grew thisbeautiful, delicious, delectabletreat from toilet paper.Absolutely amazing.Thanks so much for joining meand big thanks to Bright Cellarsfor sponsoring this video.If you'd like to receive 50%off your first six-bottle box,plus a bonus bottle,click the link down below,take the quiz and get started.Thanks again for watching.I hope you enjoy that one.I hope you learned something.Please share this video with your friends.Follow me on social media.Check out my website,I will include my recipefor mushroom toast.And yeah, like this video, subscribe.And I shall see you in the next one.Toodaloo!Take care. Bye.(classical music)\n"