science

Well I’ve never done it myself but white mycelium would form a kind of solid mass between all the rice grains. It might be hard to tell white on white. But it would feel solid, like requiring some effort to crumble. At warm temperatures (75-80F) I would imagine about 3-4 weeks would be sufficient. At cooler temperatures I don’t know. Usually you’d find out that you inoculated some kind of mold, but it is possible the spores didn’t make it in or they were unviable. But from mycelium, then there are a variety of techniques to get the mycelium to fruit, typically involving a new food source and a light source.

Yah! Basically you get spores, sanitize EVERYTHING SO HARD around you (including the spore syringes and bags and turning off the a/c). Inject the spores into the bag (standard unflavored brown rice) and use one-directional tape (sticks to things and will let air/gas out, but not in). Wait until they’re all super crunchy and stuck together. Massage to break apart.

Boil a big ol thing of dirt. Everything has to be very clean. Sterilize a plastic container (once the spores have taken hold and “infected” the rice, you don’t need to be anywhere near as careful with how clean everything is) and put the dirt into the plastic tub, planting the spore rice in the dirt. That dirt is soon to become a network of mycelium!

Then cover it with a lid. Wait a while, spritzing the dirt every day or two. Once one single lil guy comes up, flip the lid over to allow some ventilation. Spritz with water twice a day now. Soon you’ll have a fungus party!