You know adulting has launched successfully when the idea of fun isn’t pretending the floor is lava or watching Mentos explode in Diet Coke, but instead, you’re obsessing over growing your own shiitake mushrooms. Shiitake is earthy, meaty, exotic, and divine in soup or stir-fry. Thanks to a video by @LifeByMikeG, we’ve got a front-row seat to the traditional Japanese way of doing it. By the end of this text, you will start eyeballing every oak tree like a potential fungi farm. Here’s what to do to get almost a year’s supply of Shiitake mushrooms and enjoy an umami-packed life.
1. Get the Right Log
First, find yourself a chunk of hardwood. Shiitake mushrooms grow best on hardwood—oak if you have it, but birch, beech, maple, and other dense, non-aromatic hardwoods work just fine too. The fungus feeds on the sapwood, that outer, lighter ring packed with nutrients. The darker inner ring, the heartwood, is the log’s grumpy uncle—hard to impress and even harder to digest. If it isn’t chopped already, cut the log about 3 to 4 feet long and let it rest for a few weeks if freshly cut. If it’s been sitting around too long and feels like dead weight, skip it. Shiitake needs a bit of life left in the wood.
2. Drill Holes into it
If you are a carpenter at heart but gardening keeps calling, you will love this part—drilling. Grab a power drill or an angle grinder fitted with a drill bit and start poking holes into the log. Drill holes one inch deep, spaced every 6 inches or so in a loose diamond pattern around the entire log.
3. Inoculate with Mushroom Spawn
Now for the spawn, which you can purchase online (just Google shiitake spawn). This is wood material—either sawdust or plugs—already colonized by shiitake mycelium, the web-like stuff mushrooms grow from. Plug spawn is simple: hammer the dowels into the holes like little wooden pegs. Sawdust spawn is the traditional Japanese method. It’s faster and cheaper when you’re working with a pile of logs. Use a thumb-style plunger to pack the sawdust into each hole like you’re stuffing a stubborn pillow.
4. Seal the Holes with Wax and Store the Log
Once the spawn’s in, you’ve got to protect it. Melt some food-grade wax (cheese wax or beeswax works great) and dab it over every hole. You’re putting a lid on your log’s fungal feast, keeping the good stuff in and the nosy bugs and birds out. Drag your inoculated log to a shady spot that still gets rained on. Mushrooms love moisture, but they’re not fans of sunbathing. Lean the log against a fence or stack it log-cabin style. A damp corner of your yard that doesn’t get baked by the afternoon sun, like Mike did, works well. With time and regular rain, something wonderful starts happening. The log begins to “fruit,” meaning shiitake mushrooms start bursting out of the holes and seams in dozens. After a few solid rains, your log might look like it’s growing a wild mane of gourmet fungus.
What to Do with Your Shiitake Jackpot
Harvest them by twisting gently or cutting with a sharp knife. He says that these logs keep producing for years. Eventually, the mushrooms will do what mushrooms do best—break down the log completely. You can make hot noodle soup, sautéed with garlic, or grill the mushrooms on a skewer immediately, but if you want them to last longer, dehydrate them. They’ll last a full year in a jar.
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