Ok so here’s the story: A local brewery had a special “dinner with beer pairing” event. Small, 30 to 40 people. We bought tickets and went, it was delicious. All the meals were mushroom based.

There’s a local company that provides mushrooms for local business only, no consumers. The owner of the company came to this dinner.

In a moment of gratitude and charitable giving, he offered to give everyone present a bag of spores. Just cut slots in the bag and let it go. He emphasized that they don’t normally offer this, but that it’s not too hard.

Months went by, we never heard from him. Then finally the email comes, come pick up your bags from the brewery.

We were out of town. We coordinated someone to go get ours but it was a week or two later than it was supposed to be, and it was several days more before we could pick them up from the friends.

Now here’s my question: do these look ok? What do I do with them? An acquaintance of mine got theirs earlier, cooked up some straw, broke up the brick and put it in baskets with holes, a whole process. They aren’t keen on helping me as they aren’t sure if my bags are ok, they are learning as they go.

My bags look like they are fruiting already?

My wife is afraid of them. I have a feeling they’re probably safe? But I would love some advice and direction.

I’m sorry I haven’t done more research, I waited too long and now everything is happening so fast, it’s quite overwhelming.

Thanks in advance

    • beastlykings@sh.itjust.worksOPEnglish
      2·
      5 days ago

      Thanks for the information! I understand what the veil breaking means in theory, but I have zero idea what that would look like. I’m gonna crack it open and add a picture to the OP.

      Can you elaborate on what problems the veil breaking would cause? Mushrooms trying to grow where they shouldn’t?

      I’m probably only gonna use this bag once, get some mushrooms off it, then stop.

      It’s definitely been sealed this whole time so CO2 buildup might be a problem too.

      • the_artic_one@programming.devEnglish
        2·
        3 days ago

        In addition to what the other comment said, the point where the veil is about to break is an easy cue to tell you the mushroom has grown as big as it’s going to get and is ready to harvest for maximum freshness.

        If these are oysters they won’t have a veil at all (many mushrooms don’t have a partial veil), for those you want to pick them just as the cap is about to flatten out.

        • beastlykings@sh.itjust.worksOPEnglish
          1·
          1 day ago

          Thanks for the insight!

          The one with the brown oil in it definitely has something going on. Don’t trust it. We’ll see what happens with the other

          • the_artic_one@programming.devEnglish
            1·
            20 hours ago

            That’s called guttation, the humidity in the bag is probably a little high and they’re “sweating” out excess moisture. It’s probably time to cut holes in that one so they can dry out a little.

      • FiveMacsEnglish
        1·
        4 days ago

        The veil is a thinish protective part that typically covers the gills of the mushroom. When that breaks, or pulls away from the cap the mushroom releases its spores.

        The veil is close to popping off/separating in this photo

        Separated veil

        I don’t believe anything inherently is bad if you pick post veil breaking, but it’s might lose some quality/flavour. It’s like lamb vs mutton. People in general prefer the younger not mature vs the aged. It’s somewhat the same with mushrooms. Right before, or at the time of the veil breaking adds to the potency of the mushrooms umami/flavor profiles and tenderness.