Forij Mushrooms

09/15/2021

Ever heard of mushroom jerky?!

It’s a delicious, vegan treat that satisfies all your meat-jerky cravings with a healthy twist! There’s really nothing better than snacking without a guilty conscience ;)

Mushroom jerky is often made out of dehydrated shiitake mushrooms and flavoured with original beef jerky flavours!

This mushroom snack is 100% FORIJ team recommended 🍄👌🔥

09/14/2021

Is there a difference between water based and alcohol based medicinal mushroom tinctures?

There definitely is! Each mushroom has unique medicinal properties and they can’t all be extracted the same way. Make sure you look into the properties of the mushrooms you’re extracting because some mushrooms, such as reishi, need to use a method called double extraction. This means that reshi needs to first undergo an alcohol soaking extraction and then a hot water extraction to get all of the nutritional properties into the tincture.

Taking medicinal mushroom supplements can be very beneficial - make sure you do your research when choosing one that's right for you!

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Interested in growing your own mushrooms!? You can fruit beautiful big blue oysters like these in your own home! Try one of our gourmet mushrooms fruiting kits, for an easy way to eat the freshest mushrooms! You can order online at Forij.life ❤️🍄

09/14/2021

Pleurotus never ceases to amaze. We are in awe of these creamy, luscious white oyster genetics from !

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09/14/2021

Tis the season to grow Lion’s Mane indoors! Hericium erinaceus is loving this cooler weather. 🥳

Check out our blog post for everything you need to know about the bearded tooth mushroom! Grow kits, education, spawn, genetics — link in bio.

09/12/2021

Agrocybe aegerita has many names: pioppino, chestnut, black poplar, tea tree mushroom, or cha shu gu. It’s found growing off decaying hardwood logs in Southern Europe, China, and Japan. Besides being nutty and delicious, the Pioppino mushroom is known for curing headache, fatigue, and nausea in Traditional Chinese Medicine.

These are some of the FORIJ team’s favorite mushrooms to eat! They’re a mix between a Bolete and a button in texture - delicate, soft, and slightly crunchy. It’s delicate stems and long stems can be chopped up and fried with oil and garlic on a pan with medium-high heat. We recommend everyone try it!

Our Pioppino indoor grow kits are robust — after the first flush, clear out the top layer and most. After ten days you’ll easily see just as robust of a second and this flush with little to no effort!

Agrocybe aegerita grain spawn, genetics, and grow kits on our site now — link in bio. 🍄😋

09/12/2021

09/09/2021

We’ve never seen a more inspired plate of toast. throws together chestnut mushrooms, chickpea & chevre spread, and truffle and lemon oil on a beautiful piece of wheat bread.

How have you been cooking with our kits? What’s your favourite mushroom to eat? Give us a shout! 😋

09/09/2021

Chanterelle season is almost upon us here in Vancouver B.C! 🍄❤️🍄

The FORIJ team wants to remind everyone to be careful out there when foraging for wild mushrooms. Always be 100% sure of what you are picking - and if it’s your first time, bring a seasoned forager along with you!

Chanterelles grow from their relationship with trees such as the Douglas Fir or Hemlock. So a little FORIJ tip is to try to identify your local hardwood trees! Also make sure that you go out after there has been a considerable amount of rain, Chanterelles need lots of moisture to be able to fruit.

Happy Foraging!

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Thanks for you’re beautiful chanterelle photo!

09/08/2021

Our newsletter goes out this afternoon! Any idea what it’s about?

The ethnomycology, cultivation, and consumption of our favorite toothy saprophytic mushroom! Link in bio if you haven’t registered to subscribe already. You get a 15% discount code for registering. 🦁


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09/08/2021

FORIJ is selling manure substrate for home growers! Check out our sterile “Royal Flush” substrate blocks on our website forij.life ! It is a highly tested substrate specifically created for manure loving mushroom species. We sell individually and in bulk quantities. We ship all throughout Canada, for inquiries on international shipping contact our sales rep [email protected]

Enjoy your Grow!

09/07/2021

It’s foraging season! With onset of rainier, colder weather, get out your baskets and foraging knives and start hunting for edible and medicinal fungi. Let’s also take a moment and talk about the history of the usage of fungi in North America as medicine, food, and rituals.

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The vast majority of First Nations tribes used puffball and lion’s mane mushrooms as an anti-hemorrhagic, to put on wounds to prevent bleeding and infection, especially when cutting umbilical cords. Empty puffballs were also filled with pebbles to make good luck charms.

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Various First Nations tribes also used fungi and lichens as a pigment source. The Kwakwaka’wakw mixed red bellied conk with deer fat to create face paint in wars. The Hopi used the black spores from Huitlacoche (corn s**t) as body paint. Fungi and lichens found on decaying trees have also been harvested and used as colourful dyes for clothing and woven fabrics.

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Many of the edible mushrooms you will encounter this foraging season are mycorrhizal species that can’t be cultivated on farms because they need the roots of trees to survive. Boletes, morels, chanterelles, and lobster mushrooms are among this subset of mushrooms that are better left to be foraged rather than farmed. Enjoy this bountiful season and appreciate the rich history of fungi in our environments and how they’ve been used to nourish the earth and human civilization! 🍄

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08/31/2021

✨FOR THE LOVE OF MUSHROOMS GIVEAWAY✨

We've teamed up with and to bring you $100 worth of mushroom-centric products from female-led small businesses.

What you'll win:
- 1x FORIJ Lion's Mane Indoor Grow Kit 🍄
- 1x Rosehill Pottery Handmade Mushroom Bowl 🥢
- 1x 4-pack Vancouver Mushroom Co Reishi Kombucha 🥂

How to enter:
1. Follow , , and .
2. Like and bookmark this post.
3. Tag 1 friend in the comments section you'd like to share your prize with.
4.  Multiple entries accepted and count as individual entries on each page.

The giveaway closes on Sunday September 5th at 5PM PST. The winner will be announced on Tuesday September 7th 12PM PST.

*Open to US and Canadian residents only

08/28/2021

Ganoderma lingzhi / Lingzhi / Reishi mushroom has been recognized by Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) for as long as 2000 years (!!!). The earliest record of Lingzhi was in the Han dynasty (20-225 AD), where Lingzhi was published in a book documenting medicinal herbs and mushrooms in China.

Lingzhi has also been present in ancient Chinese and Japanese art and hand scrolls throughout the dawn of these civilizations. In a well known Taoist painting, the Lingzhi mushroom was painted as “the bridge between heaven and earth,” which is a common metaphor of Reishi’s reputation amongst Chinese culture as the “mushroom of immortality.”

It’s thrilling that the herbal usage of this mushroom is finally being recognized and used to heal societies across all cultures, North American included! 2000 years of medicine, recordings, and art doesn’t lie.

For BC reishi growers, we’re working on a standard 5lb reishi spawn product- DM for details. And for all other interested consumers of Lingzhi, we’d recommend ’s Reishi Kombucha (brewed with whole fruiting body tea), and ’s dual-extract Reishi tinctures to take in the morning.

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08/27/2021

We see these beautiful, fleshy pink oysters in our grow room every day and it never gets old.

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08/27/2021

What is mycoremediation? 🍄

Fungi have been discovered to degrade manmade pollutants at a highly effective rate. Fungi break down plastics, oil spills, heavy metals, and even radioactive pollutants when other strategies have failed. Fungi consume these toxins and return them back into our soil to nourish our plants and convert the toxins into clean oxygen through mycorrhizal systems. 🌱

How can we aid in mycoremediation? Grow (and eat) more mushrooms, of course! Plant mushroom beds, inoculate hardwood logs, grow your own delicious mushrooms. Look into other creative ways you can participate in bioremediation in your communities! Mushrooms are delicious and so much can be done with them to heal our earth and nurture the environment. 🍄🌱

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08/26/2021

Live in the Vancouver/lower mainland area? Join us at the White Rock Farmer’s Market this Sunday from 10am-2pm.
Meet the team, buy some yummy gourmet mushrooms and grow kits, and have a chat with us about fungi!

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08/26/2021

Need recipe ideas for your gourmet mushrooms? Here is the FORIJ team’s list of favorite mushroom meals!

1. Fried buttermilk battered oyster mushrooms

2. Minced lion’s mane stuffed red peppers

3. Potato chowder with shiitake and oyster mushrooms

4. Mushroom risotto with chopped lion’s mane, blue and golden oysters

5. Ramen with slow cooked gourmet mushrooms and a poached egg on top

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For more meal prompts, fun mushroom facts and farm updates subscribe to our newsletter through our website forij.life and receive 15% off your first online order!

08/25/2021

🍄 Species Spotlight! 🍄

The Chestnut Mushroom is yet another superfood powerhouse! It is great for your cells, blood health and supports your immune system. The Chestnut mushroom contains many vitamins, and minerals such as Biotin, Niacin or Vitamin B3, Selenium, Potassium and Riboflavin or Vitamin B2. And it’s particularly rich in Vitamin B5!

Not only is this mushroom great as a medicinal addition to your diet but it is a perfect nutty addition to casseroles, stir-frys, sauces, pestos and pasta dishes! It has a rich nutty flavour and soft texture when cooked but can also be eaten raw! It has a similar texture and shape to the ubiquitous button mushroom!

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08/25/2021

Sick of or intimidated by the tedium of boiling grains and sterilizing substrates for hours? Let us make mushroom growing easier for you. Both our grain bag and our bulk sub products are sterile, sealed, and perfectly hydrated to field capacity. This is the easiest way to grow mushrooms: skipping the labour of substrate preparation.

Get your sterile substrate from our site—we now ship to all over Canada! Or head to one of our garden shop distributors if you live in British Columbia.

DM for bulk purchases. 🍄

08/24/2021

Ever heard of vegan scallops? We’ll take them in the form of King Oyster mushrooms!

In hot water, soak your chopped King Oyster stems for 1-2 hours. Drain completely.
On medium-high, place the mushroom stems into a skillet. Add the 1 cup broth and ¼ cup white wine to the skillet, getting the liquid to a simmering boil. Allow the mushroom stems to absorb the liquid completely (might take about 12-15 minutes) Please note that they will shrink in size a little once cooked.
Toss in 1 Tbsp butter, 2 cloves of minced garlic, and 1 minced shallot. Cook until the stems are nicely browned on each side, making sure you don’t burn the garlic and shallots. Remove from heat and place the “scallops” on a plate.
These are GREAT topped on an alfredo pasta dish! Enjoy!

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Find the original recipe at https://www.forkandbeans.com/

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Looking to grow your own mushroom garden!? Check out the link in our bio for all the supplies you’ll need! We sell sterilized grain bags, to fruiting blocks, to liquid cultures and everything in between.

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08/24/2021

Hericium erinaceus: the delicious comb-tooth mushroom that is sweet in flavour, stringy in texture, and is reminiscent of fresh crab or lobster. It’s also been shown to slow the onset of dementia by reducing neural inflammation! 🧠

Have you tried it yet? Grow kits, spawn, and genetics live on our site. 🤗

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08/24/2021

What is Biological Efficiency (BE)? Simply put, it’s the effectiveness of a culture to fruit from a given lb of colonized substrate.

At 100% BE, a 5lb grow kit would yield a total of 5lbs of fresh mushrooms. Or in this case, a 10gram chunk of malt agar jelly would yield a total of 10g mini pink oysters. 🍄

How do you maximize your BE to run a profitable business? By testing and being selective with your mono cultures, trialling different substrate formulas and/or grow conditions, and taking note of every detail that works with the system you’ve set in place. It could be as simple as spraying your grow kit more if you live in a dry apartment!

Cultivation on any level is an investment of time and energy, so make it worth your while! Take note of the environment, substrate, growing conditions. The FORIJ team takes special care in testing out all our strains we have here in the lab so that every bag of spawn or Petri dish you order has the best odds of fruiting well.

08/23/2021

What does your Grow Kit look like a week or so after you’ve cut an “X” on the side of it?

The mycelium sense the oxygen you’ve exposed it to when you’ve sliced open your block. It’s consumed all its “food” (hardwood substrate) in the block, and now the oxygen is a signal that it’s time to fruit to release spores into the air, in the hopes that some of the spores will successfully germinate onto more soil it can consume to extend its lifecycle.

Your grow kit will take about 5-10 days to get to this stage. Then, about 2-4 days from here you will see fully grown, beautiful mushrooms that you can harvest and cook up. Keep spraying your kit, as it’ll keep producing this way about 2-5 times.

Read our “Grow Kit FAQ” section on our website if you have any questions. We highly recommend you try out our kits if you’re new to growing! They’re guaranteed to fruit without fail, so long as you follow our simple instructions. 🍄🤩

08/22/2021

Thanks to for documenting her home grow with our pink oyster grow kit! How easy is it to grow?

- put the kit on your kitchen counter away from direct sunlight. You want indirect light 12 on/off
- cut an X against the side of the block with a knife.
- spray 3-5X daily with tap water, with your spray bottle that comes with your grow kit.
- watch your mushrooms poke through the X in 5-10 days!
- harvest, cook, enjoy your gourmets.

Pink Oysters can’t be purchased from grocery stores because they are a tropical variety with a very short shelf life. They don’t do well in the fridge. This is the freshest and easiest way you can get them!

08/21/2021

How do you grow oyster mushrooms in a 5 gallon Home Depot bucket? It’s simple!

1. Drill a few holes into the bucket with a 1/4” drill bit.

2. In a separate large tote, fill with hardwood chips and pour boiling water to submerge all the chips. Lid and leave overnight for 8+ hours.

3. Drain the chips the next day. In your bucket, layer wood chips and FORIJ grain spawn in a lasagne-like pattern, starting and ending with a final layer of wood chips.

4. Leave in your garage (a cool, dark place) for 10-21 days. When you start noticing mini mushroom pins poking out of your bucket holes, place your bucket in a place away from direct sunlight —a shady tree or a place on your deck that’s roofed with indirect light.

5. Spray with a water bottle 3-5X a day. Watch your mushrooms grow! Harvest and cook and enjoy. Keep spraying for future flushes.

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08/20/2021

What’s that white stuff on the inside of our curly cap blue oysters? It’s mycelium, not mold.

After these mushrooms released their their spores into the air, some of the spores had pooled into the center of the caps and germinated into fluffy white mycelium. Just a bit of Sherlock Holmes detective work here for you. 🧐

Our curly cap mushrooms were actually normal looking oysters but the monoculture slowly mutated over time to express this flower-like cap skirt. The mutation isn’t harmful—these oysters fruit with the same vigour, and we found ourselves loving the phenotypical expression because they turned out to be a culinary delight! The extra surface area of the ridges pull in a lot of flavour from whatever sauce cooking the mushrooms in, and can turn extra golden and crunchy if you’re pan frying or roasting them.

Nature’s accidents can be good ones ones. Get your curly cap blue oyster grow kit or genetics on our site. 😎

08/19/2021

How about some Lion’s Mane Steak!?

Here’s a recipe we absolutely love when cooking one of our favourite mushrooms…

Begin by cutting the mushroom into 1 – 2 cm thick slices. Fry the mushroom slices without oil on a medium-high temperature. This will dehydrate the mushroom while intensifying its flavours. Fry for 5 minutes or until the mushroom has reduced by half. Add some olive oil and continue frying the mushroom over a medium-high temperature until golden and crisp. We suggest you serve this Lion’s Mane Steak with a hearty quinoa salad and potato skins!

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Recipe sourced from https://urbanspore.com.au/
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Looking to grow your own mushroom garden!? Check out the link in our bio for all the supplies you’ll need! We sell sterilized grain bags, to fruiting blocks, to liquid cultures and everything in between.
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08/19/2021

It’s still warm enough for our pinks to thrive without needing additional heating! Here’s a close up of their colourful gills.

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Pleurotus djamor (Pink Oyster mushrooms) are a tropical variety that don’t do well in refrigeration. They have a short shelf life, partially correlated to their high protein content (up to 35% by weight).

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Get your pink oyster grow kits, grain spawn, and genetics on our site! We just went live with our liquid cultures and Petri dishes, made to order. Take advantage of the warm weather while it lasts 🌺

08/17/2021

Hey all! We’ve been hard at work on the farm cultivating some new species of gourmet mushrooms for you!
We have been testing out our white oysters, Pioppini, and chestnut mushrooms and soon we will be adding them to our grow kit list! Keep your eyes peeled for more info on all our mushroom species!

Check out our page and our website forij.life for more info on all our gourmet mushroom grow products!

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