Some of you folks are looking for the easiest way to get yourself a decent stash of mushroom but you don't want to go through the hastle and expense of fruiting cubensis. So why bother?
Here is the absolute easiest way possible to get yourself such a delight is to grow sclerotia.
Get yourself a case of pint jars, if you like tyvek use that, better yet purchase a dozen filter disks and drill small holes in your jar lids. The point in this excercise is that you will be growing myclium for a long period of time and so there needs to be some air exchange, not too much as you don't want the insides to get dry. And you will definitely want to use injection ports.
Your best substrate is rye grass seed - you can find it in the spring in any landscape place - Don't use mixes unless the mix is predominantly rye grass seed. If you can't find it, use rye berries, you don't want to use anything else, rice, flour, corn, that sort of stuff works poorly if at all.
Boil the grain or seed in water until it is fully saturated and then place it in your jars If you want to, put a teaspoon of finely ground coffee into the jar. It is said that coffee promotes the production of sclerotia.
- fill the jars about 3/4 full, don't pack them. Close the lid up tight, Let the jars sit for 24 hours and then either steam for a couple of hours or pressure cook for 45 minutes at 15 lbs.
After the jars have cooled, inject each one with a cc or three of spores (more on the spores later), if you use grain, you can shake the jar, if not, don't bother. Then put the jars in a dark place that won't get warmer than about 80 degrees and won't freeze. Wait 2 months or so and then open the jars, dump out the mycelial puck and pick through it for the truffles - you are done. The truffles are about 3/4 as potent but they there is more by weight their being only 70 percent water rather than 90 percent as in mushrooms. some say they have a slightly different effect and I agree, but I do not believe it is because of the form.
Spores:
Cubensis spores will NOT work (although I firmly believe I discovered and then lost a sclerotia forming Cubensis about 10 years ago).
You want Mexicana (A) spores or Atlantia spores or Tampanensis (although these don't work as well).
If you think about it, the two months is not so long, if you have innoculated a dozen jars you will have all the truffles a person could want for himself and his friends to have quite a number of wonderful experiences - no fruting chamber, no contamination problems, no fanning, no light, no humidity problems, no mess.
Try it.
