🌈 This Week’s Shroom Drop: A Rainbow of Mushrooms & How to Cook Them

Get yours at Five A Day, Ventnor

This week’s Shroom Drop is looking particularly colourful.

We’ve got Speckled Chestnuts, Pink Oysters, Pioppino, Black Pearl Oysters and Pearl Oysters all making an appearance. Five mushrooms, five slightly different personalities, and absolutely no excuse for boring dinner.

If you’ve picked up a mixed box this week and are staring at it wondering “Right… what the hell do I do with these?”, fear not. Here’s our guide to getting the best out of each one.

🌰 Speckled Chestnuts

Speckled Chestnuts are firm, meaty little things with a lovely texture and a deeper, slightly nutty flavour than your average mushroom.

Best practice: Don’t drown them.

Give them a quick brush or wipe if they need cleaning, then slice or tear them into reasonably chunky pieces. Get a frying pan properly hot, add a little oil or butter and let them cook until they’ve taken on some lovely colour.

They’re brilliant with:

• Garlic and butter

• Soy sauce

• Thyme or rosemary

• Eggs

• Pasta

• Ramen

• On toast

Our favourite: Cut them lengthways, toss with oil, salt, garlic and a splash of soy sauce, then air fry until golden and slightly crispy.

The important bit is browning. Let them actually sit in the pan rather than constantly stirring them into mushroom soup.

🌸 Pink Oysters

Pink Oysters are the drama queens of the mushroom world. Ridiculously pretty when fresh, but their delicate texture means they don't need much faffing.

They have a slightly meaty texture and a lovely savoury flavour.

Best practice: Cook them quickly and hot.

Tear them into pieces rather than chopping them into tiny bits. Heat a frying pan until properly hot, add oil or butter and fry until the edges start becoming golden and crispy.

They're fantastic with:

• Garlic and chilli

• Butter

• Soy sauce

• Lemon

• Noodles

• Tacos

• Burgers

• Crispy mushroom sandwiches

Want maximum crispy edges? Don't overcrowd the pan. Give those little pink goblins some personal space.

Pink Oysters can also make a brilliant meat substitute when shredded and fried until crisp.

🌿 Pioppino

Our newest mushroom on the Shroomery menu!

Pioppino has a wonderfully firm texture and a slightly nutty, earthy flavour. The stems are particularly good and have a satisfying bite.

Best practice: Cook them a little longer than you might cook a delicate oyster.

Trim the very end of the base if needed, separate the mushrooms and give them a good fry. They’re excellent roasted or sautéed until golden.

Try them with:

• Garlic and herbs

• Butter

• Pasta

• Risotto

• Ramen

• Creamy sauces

• Eggs

• Soy and ginger

Pioppino is particularly good when you allow it to really brown. Don't be afraid of a little colour.

We recently threw ours into the air fryer after marinating them in rapeseed oil, garlic, salt and pepper, then piled them onto homemade ramen.

Scientific conclusion: bloody delicious.

🖤 Black Pearl Oysters

Black Pearls are absolute units.

They're a hybrid oyster with a wonderfully meaty texture and substantial stems. And yes, eat the stems.

Seriously.

We see a lot of people happily eating the caps and abandoning the stalks, but the stems can be one of the best bits. They have a firm, almost scallop-like texture when cooked properly.

Best practice: Tear or slice them into chunky pieces and give them plenty of heat.

For maximum texture, sear them in a hot pan until deeply browned on the outside.

They're brilliant with:

• Garlic butter

• Soy sauce

• Miso

• Chilli

• Sesame

• Ramen

• Stir fries

• Burgers

• As a scallop-style centrepiece

You can even slice the thicker stems into rounds and sear them until golden.

Think vegan scallops, but fungi.

And if your Black Pearls develop weird-looking cap mutations, don't panic. Mushroom caps can occasionally produce some wonderfully bizarre shapes. As long as the mushroom is fresh and healthy, the weirdness is generally just part of the mushroom being a mushroom.

🤍 Pearl Oysters

Pearl Oysters are the classic all-rounder.

Mild, savoury and incredibly versatile, they're one of the easiest mushrooms to throw into pretty much anything.

Best practice: Keep it simple.

Tear them into strips or chunks and fry over a medium-high heat until golden. Add butter and garlic towards the end rather than at the beginning so your garlic doesn't burn before the mushrooms are ready.

They're great in:

• Stir fries

• Pasta

• Ramen

• Curries

• Toasties

• Omelettes

• Burgers

• Soups

• On toast

You can also shred them and cook until crispy for a brilliant plant-based filling.

Thank you for your support and enjoy!

🍄 A Few Universal Mushroom Rules

Whatever mushroom you've picked up this week, there are a few things worth remembering.

🔥 HOT PAN = HAPPY MUSHROOMS

Mushrooms contain a lot of water. If you put too many into a cold or overcrowded pan, they'll release that water and start steaming.

You want heat and space.

🧂 Don't drown them in salt too early

Salt encourages mushrooms to release moisture. For a beautifully browned mushroom, season towards the end of cooking or once you've got some colour on them.

🧈 Add butter later

Oil is great for getting the pan hot. Add butter towards the end for flavour without risking burning it.

🔪 Don't chop everything into tiny pieces

Chunkier pieces give you much better texture, particularly with oysters and Pioppino.

And don't automatically throw away the stems. Many gourmet mushrooms have delicious, meaty stalks.

💧 Do you need to wash them?

Ideally, mushrooms should be kept as dry as possible. If they're clean, simply brush or wipe away any substrate.

If they do need washing, give them a quick rinse and dry them thoroughly before cooking.

🧊 Keep them chilled

Fresh mushrooms are best stored in the fridge and used reasonably quickly. A paper bag or breathable packaging helps prevent them becoming sweaty and slimy.

🌈 The Great Mushroom Experiment

The best thing about a mixed box is that you don't have to cook everything the same way.

Try the Pink Oysters crispy and spicy.

Give the Black Pearls a hard sear.

Let the Pioppino get properly golden.

Throw the Pearl Oysters into a stir fry.

And absolutely obliterate the Speckled Chestnuts with garlic, butter and soy sauce.

There are no prizes for making mushrooms complicated.

Hot pan. Good seasoning. Let them brown. Eat the weird bits.

That's basically the Shroomery philosophy.

🍄 Small batch. Slow grown. Zero nasties.