Hi Adam,

Thank you for your comment, and I do appreciate your point.

What I don’t appreciate you telling me what I SHOULD write in my article. If I’d wanted to delve deeper into the subject of contamination, I would have.

It’s dangerous to tell readers that as long as their mycelium is white, then they’re good to go. There are harmful bacteria that are also white and blend right in with the mycelium. You can only identify them by their texture, hair filaments, bubbles, etc. And you need a microscope to see them.

Also, the mushrooms that grow on a contaminated cake aren’t poisonous. It’s the harmful bacteria on the cake that’s dangerous.

Unless, of course, you have a link to scientific research that says otherwise. If so, feel free to share it.

Visit any growing forum, and you’ll see many growers debating if they should or shouldn’t eat mushrooms off a contaminated cake. Some do, and some don’t.

I’d throw out any jar that had visible signs of contamination. But not because it’s going to produce poisonous mushrooms.

So you see, harmful bacteria in mushroom cultivation is a complex subject, and it wasn’t the editorial direction of my piece.