Anyone grown/growing, or have experience with, Almond Agaricus mushrooms? I’ve been looking at different mushrooms on the Field & Forest site to find a few that might be fairly easy to grow. Since these grow on finished compost it seems quite suited to fit in to the garden, either on the compost pile or under plants, maybe moving to the greenhouse in the fall. Sue
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I don’t believe you will have Much luck growing them in a slow compost pile such as from kitchen scraps and such.
The compost for Agaricus is usually made in a large batch.
At least a 6‘ x 6‘ pile. From fresh horses manure straw. Turned every three days inside out. For about two weeks.
Until it cools and it is finished.
Then spread, inoculated, covered with casing soil that is left undisturbed. A art and a science to this.
This is not just slow compost from kitchen scraps.
If done in the garden under vegetables activities such as hoeing. Would unfavorably disturb the casing soil.
So if you’re willing to make A proper active compost pile dedicated for Agaricus you may have luck…
But I think trying this from compost made of kitchen scraps in a typical garden situation will be disappointing.
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I’m planted Almond Agaricus this year on a mound of cow manure, following Field and Forest guide. Let’s see if it works. It’s supposed to colonize and and yield mushrooms in 4+ weeks. Let’s see.
Almost 10 weeks later, there is a flush harvested hidden beneath thick canopy of tomatoes. The mushrooms smell exactly like the mycelium, quite distinct and pleasant–though not what I would identify as a typical savory mushroom-y smell. Compared to button mushrooms, the flesh is more brittle, and stems were hollow in mature specimen. Will give a taste test tomorrow morning.
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I pan fried the mushrooms, then salt and peppered. Unfortunately, this sampling of Almond Agaricus were for me not as tasty the standard button mushroom (Agaricus Bisphorus).
The pleasant nutty aroma didn’t translate into a pleasant taste for me. In fact the flavor may even be a bit strangely off putting. There was some umami flavor, but not enough. I’ll have to get another sample, maybe this mushroom is more suitable for other dishes.
I have grown it in the past and i personally didn’t think it was that great. On a scale of 1-10 a typical white button being a 1 and a morel a 10, the almond agaricus was maybe a 3. Oysters and shiitake are far superior and easier to grow compared to the almond.
For me, the benefits were that it was very easy to grow and synergized with tomato growing since a lot of requirements are already needed by the tomato growing anyway. Based on minimal time/substrate requirements, Almond Agaricus was for me far easier than mushroom logs, and you get a same season harvest.
I agree with you on taste, based on which I’m unsure if I will do this again next year.
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Almond Agaricus was pretty good in soup, which It retained the mushroomy characteristics in the broth. Output vs labor was quite high and I think I would do it again.
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