The Kitchen Note
Pleurotus ostreatus · Kitchen
Kitchen Note - Trail of Tears Oyster Grow Block
A dark oyster for everyday cooking.
$29.00
Shipping at checkout · Free on orders $150+
Grown for everyday cooking
Trail of Tears is a gourmet oyster for the skillet. Deep savory flavor, protein, and a mushroom you can cook every week. It is food — not a psychedelic strain. You grow it, pick it, and cook it.
A ready-to-grow block on organic hardwood, made and checked in Carthage. Same easy X-cut as golden oyster. Cooler rooms often do well. Classic mushroom taste.
No pins, no fruit, or contamination in 30 days — replacement or refund.
Grown for
Everyday savory cooking
How you use it
Skillet, gravy, soup, roast
First harvest
7–14 days
Temperature
55–70°F
How it fruits
Side-fruit through an X-cut
Expected yield
About 1–1½ lb on the first flush
Flavor
Woodsy, savory, a hint of anise
Difficulty
Easy
In your life
Why people cook this oyster every week
What it can add
Oyster mushrooms bring protein, fiber, potassium, and B vitamins. This dark oyster is an easy way to put fresh mushrooms on the plate several times a week — pasta, soup, eggs, gravy.
Grow it and make it yourself
We grow this block on organic hardwood in Carthage and check it before it ships. You cut an X, spray, pick the cluster, and cook it. You see the mushroom from bag to pan.
How to use it
This is a cooking oyster, not a tea mushroom, and not a psychedelic strain. Twist the cluster, cook fully in a skillet. Food.
As food
Oysters are lean kitchen food: protein, fiber, B vitamins, potassium, and beta-glucans in a sauté. A weekly skillet is the habit. Cook them fully. Do not eat them raw.
Food and traditional tea — not a medicine. These statements have not been evaluated by the FDA. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. If you are pregnant, nursing, or on medication, ask a clinician before making functional mushrooms a daily habit.
Not sure which mushroom matches the job you want? Read the guide.
What you are actually growing
Trail of Tears is a named gourmet oyster strain. Steel-gray caps, white gills, the flavor people mean when they say ‘mushroom.’ Cooler kitchens (55–70°F) often do better with this than with golden oyster.
Same X-cut as golden oyster. If your house runs cool, start here.
How to fruit this block
Unbox into a cool, bright room
Skip the hottest room. 55–70°F is the sweet spot.
Cut an X on the side
2–3 inch X, bag stays on.
Mist the wound
Two to three times a day so the cut never looks dusty-dry.
Harvest the cluster
Twist at the base when caps are still slightly in-rolled.
Harvest
Steel-gray, still slightly in-rolled. Pale upturned rims means a day late — still good to cook.
After the last flush
Rest 7–10 days, soak 2–4 hours, fruit again. Three or four flushes is common.
In the kitchen
Sear until the edges brown. Garlic, thyme, stock or cream.
A first recipe
Trail of Tears skillet with thyme
Tear into petals. Hard sear. Butter, garlic, thyme. Over grits or potatoes.
If something looks wrong
Caps pale and stretched
Too warm or too little air.
Dry, cracked caps
Mist more.
Green mold or slime
Photograph and write us.
