Pearl Oyster aka Pleurotus ostreatus - NH Strains

---

Our first NH strain "Mill Brook Beauty" from our own neighborhood in Grafton is a delicately flavored oyster with a flower-like growth pattern that fruits during the first weeks of cool fall weather. 

"Queen of the Hill" from Hill, NH is a prolific wide temperature range oyster mushroom capable of fruiting during the dog days of summer, when many strains only fruit in cooler weather. This special characteristic makes the Queen the MVP of our culture bank. Read more about the Queen in our upcoming blog post!

"Grafton Giant" - Still in testing - We captured some tissue from hands down the craziest oyster tree we have ever seen, right on Grafton's own Tunnel Road! We observed this tree fruiting in spring and multiple flushes in fall during cool weather. We are continuing to monitor the parent tree, which did NOT fruit in Spring 2025. Stay tuned...

Why did we give up most commercial strains? Many non-native oyster strains can hybridize and compete with NH oysters.  We encourage avoiding cultivation or purchase of the golden oyster, Pleurotus citrinopileatus. This invasive Asian mushroom is already heavily impacting the midwest. We hope our products help keep NH/VT ecosystems strong!

• Store in fridge 3 to 7 days - oysters taste best when used as soon as possible - always refrigerate and thoroughly cook all varieties of fresh mushrooms
•  Can be frozen after par cooking
•  Can be sliced thinly and dehydrated until cracker crisp, then stored up to 1 year in an airtight container - always review food safety guidelines when preparing food for long term storage!
• Wipe debris from outdoor grown mushrooms with a damp cloth - rinse and pat or spin dry only if necessary

• Mild seafood flavor and delicate anise aroma
• Meaty texture, good choice for a mushroom main dish
• Versatile - Replace button mushrooms or seafood in many recipes
• Larger caps make great sandwiches or parmigiana

• Habitat - Grows on decaying wood
• Thick, wide, funnel shaped, white to light grey or brown caps that grow in clusters 
• Short, somewhat tough, off-center stems that connect to the rest of the cluster
• Pale gills yellow with age and are decurrent, meaning they run down the stem
• Inner flesh is white when cut
• Spore print is white to pale lilac in color
• Season - Oysters can be found at any time of year but are most common in fall

• Cultivation difficulty - easy to intermediate
• Grown indoors on supplemented sawdust or straw and outdoors on logs, wood chips, or straw
• Requires full shade and high humidity
• Season: Outdoors - early spring through late fall,  Indoors - year round
• Can colonize a wide variety of substrates