Customer Reviews

Growing Gourmet and Medicinal Mushrooms

5 star:		(29)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I have to admit, I did not know Paul Stamets was this generation's premier mycologist. After reading this volume, there is no doubt of it. He is objective, a true mycologist of the highest order, and a down-to-earth pragmatic steward of the environment. I have learned a lifetime of valuable information...both scientific as well as practical know-how from this book, (a rare feat). Not only does Stamets enthuse the reader with the miracle of possibilities in cultivating mushrooms for the environment, nutrition, (yes nutrition), and health benefits of Reishi and other mushrooms, he details how it is to be done, (by individual cultivators and/or commercial operations alike).

I cannot express more to any reader of this review how important it will be to have this standard volume on your bookshelf. If you are curious about how mushrooms "work", you must own this book. If you want to have this volume as a practical guide to growing mushrooms indoors OR outdoors, buy this volume. If you are a commercial grower and you want to increase production, create your own sterile spore production facility, you must buy it.

I have never met Paul Stamets, and have no vested interest in making this recommendation. However, after reading this book, I am as enthused as the author about the subject of practical mycology. I hope you will be too!

There is nothing I can say that hasn't been said. There is a wealth of information on just about every mushroom that people use for food or for medicine.

I was primarily interested in the Morel Mushroom cultivation which is in Chapter 21, but there is a web reference, to quote Paul Stamets "Once nice overview of cultivation techniques can be found at www.gorsky.com/~pdilley". I found this was in error and tracked down the new web address to the Morel Cultivation information Paul Stamets was pointing readers to over here "www.peterdilley.com".

One of the best resources in this book is the Cultivation Problems and Their Solutions: A Troubleshooting guide. Missing however is a detailed section on cultivation insect pests. This I found in Paul Stamets previous book The Mushroom Cultivator. So you may want to consider getting both, especially if you find a discounted bundle offer from Amazon.

If you are done reading Field Guides and/or walking around your local wilderness on mushroom foray hunts by yourself or with a local club / society, then you will not go wrong by chosing this book. 5 Stars well earned.

I was pleasently surprised at the overall quality of this book when I received my copy in the mail. It is chock full of photographs with an entire section in the center devoted to color photographs. It is extremely well written and presents the facts of mycology, the current limitations of the field, and interjections of personal experience. Growing Gourmet and Medicinal Mushrooms is much more than just a "how to" book, it discusses the science and life cycle of mushrooms along with brief histories of mycology. It is textbook quality (BTW college textbooks go for around $100 each these days) and provides specific guides for growing choice species in the latter portion of the book. It is not an identification guide however and I recommend picking up an audobon society field guide as a companion to this source. Some basic knowledge of chemistry and agriculture will help you get the most out of this book.

This is a magnum opus of colossal proportions covering most every mushroom species conceivable for human consumption... most, I say, because I am an enthusiast of psychoactive mushroom species, and as such, I was in for a colossal let-down.

I was recommended this book as a "must-have". I was told that this book contained definitive facts about growth parameters, development cycles, substrate formulas, and species characteristics. Indeed it does... just not about the mushrooms I was looking for. The only psilocybin mushroom even documented in this behemoth is psilocybe cyanescens which is known to resist indoor cultivation due to its unsatisfiable temperature requirements. Mr. Stamets is a wise man, and I've known him to say that, generally speaking, you can take the same technique for growing similar species on similar substrates and get the same results (hint, hint). However there are more straightforward texts for those of us with specific interests in specific species, and I cannot in good faith recommend this one for those purposes.

So, why do I give this book five stars? The failure was mine not the author's. I should have done my research. This book is actually quite fascinating; although I don't see amateurs reading Chapter 17, and then running out to buy an autoclave. Mr. Stamets clearly envisions a readership of serious mushroom producers with industrial-sized ambitions. Prepare to encounter the "high-pressure extrusion method" and to be awed by photographs of column cultures climbing ten-feet high. You'll even learn how to convert that forgotten old barn in your backyard into a viable grow-factory. Good luck.

If you don't have a previous edition, be sure to get this one. If you have an older edition and have an interest in cultivating any of the added species, this edition is essential. If you just want to keep up to speed on Paul's new ideas, this book is the way to do it. We recommend it highly.

I haven't gone practical yet, but Paul Stamets book leads me to believe that growing mushrooms could seriously improve the return on otherwise valueless timber in my wood (thank you all you Baltic states!). Stamets evidently knows his stuff, and has focussed my study on the practical issues in terms of log cultivation and choice of tree species. I will update this in 12-18 months when I have experimented, as directed, with the Welsh timber available to me.

THis book will take from start to finish on the following subjects: Growing methods for each mushroom, growing media preparation, nutritional information, consumption information, purchasing sources, club sources, etc. A definite must read. Highly recomend it. Black and white pictures.

The best! Tops, hands down, expands upon knowledge gained in The Mushroom Cultivator and the authors enthusiasm for mushrooms shines through. Everything I ever needed to know on cultivations, history, and medicinal properties are contained within.. Kudos!

This book is definitely not a beginners book, but The Mushroom Cultivator is. This book would be step two in your mycological life goal because it focuses more on the advanced techniques and an industrial approach growing mushrooms. I would recommend this book and every other book by Paul Stamets no questions asked.

This book contains so much information that it will take me years to absorb it all. There are lists of bed compositions, resourses, various decontamination proceedures and so much more there isn't room here to list them. Most important to me is the requirements for many different mushroom species.