Opeck Nameko is a delicious, edible mushroom with high nutritional value: pure protein-20.8%; fats-4.2%; carbohydrates-66.7%. Vitamins (in milligrams per 100 grams of dry product): thiamin-18.8; riboflavin-14.6; niacin-72.9.
Nameko is an excellent component for various boiled and fried dishes. As soon as the oily film disappears during cooking, the mushroom becomes very appetizing, develops a crisp texture and a piquant, spicy mushroom flavor.
Cap: diameter 3-8 cm, hemispherical with a flat top. The outer side of the cap is covered with a shiny organic slime — thick and abundant in young mushrooms, watery and less abundant in mature ones. Stem: long up to 7 cm, firm, fibrous. Flesh: thin, tender, dense or soft, hard in the stem, whitish, with a pleasant mild mushroom aroma.
Cultivation of Opeck on substrate: The substrate base consists of hardwood sawdust with various additives. The choice of additives is wide: straw, hay, peanut or buckwheat hulls, bran, etc. Straw, hay, corn stalks, peanut hulls can be used as the main substrate without adding sawdust or other components. Straw, in particular, has proven to be especially effective. In any case, the original materials must be free of mold. It is desirable to add 1% superphosphate to the substrate.
The prepared substrate is subjected to thermal treatment to prevent mold. It is placed in a container and poured with boiling water. After it cools down, the substrate is squeezed and placed in polyethylene bags 30x40 cm or in glass jars with a capacity of 0.5 to 3 liters, where the mushrooms will be grown. In prepared containers with substrate, mycelium of Opeck is introduced in an amount of 0.4% of the substrate mass (e.g., one packet (100 g) for 12 three-liter jars).
It is placed in the center of the jar or bag, where a hole is drilled with a wooden stick of d= 1.5-2 cm through the entire thickness of the substrate. The substrate colonization by mycelium lasts 30-40 days depending on its volume at t= 0°C to 25°C. The substrate must not dry out, therefore the container is covered with a damp burlap or paper or periodically moistened.
Light is not necessary. Once the substrate is colonized, the containers are moved to a well-lit area with electric or natural light at a temperature from -7°C to +10°C — verandas, balconies, terraces, garden plots, etc. Mushroom primordia appear on the 10th day after placing the containers in a permanent location. Another 10 days later, these primordia develop into full-fledged mushroom bodies. Thus, the first mushrooms appear 2 months after planting. Harvesting is done carefully cutting mushroom clusters at the base of the stems, and removing the stem remnants from the substrate. After 1.5-2 weeks, a second wave of mushrooms appears, and so on.
Over the entire cultivation period, which lasts 3.5-4 months, 0.5 kg of mushrooms are harvested per 1 kg of substrate. In other words, from one 3-liter jar, you can harvest up to 2 kg of mushrooms, not inferior in quality to forest chanterelles, but superior to them in ecological purity.
Yield from 1 packet of mycelium planted in 50 kg of moist substrate — up to 27 kg of high-quality marketable mushrooms. Cultivation on wood.
This method involves using wood as the substrate. In home conditions, Opeck is cultivated on wood of deciduous trees — aspen, poplar, willow, birch, chestnut, walnut, apple, plum, etc. Wood can be used as cut logs or live trees. At intervals of 15-20 cm, drill holes or make cuts 3-5 cm deep and 2-3 cm in diameter around the entire perimeter of the log. Fill the holes or cuts with mycelium, or split the log in half, sprinkle a thin layer of mycelium, put the halves together and tightly tie them with wire. Mushrooms grown on wood can grow for 5-6 years. One packet is sufficient for 60-70 kg of wood.
