Forij Fruiting Kits allow you to grow your own food in your own home. Simply place your kit on your kitchen counter, open up the perforated hole, and use a sharp kitchen knife to cut an “X” against the window. Fill the spray bottle with tap water and spray the “X” cut three times a day. In 2-4 weeks you’ll have fresh, gourmet mushrooms ready to harvest and eat for dinner. If you open up the lid of your kit, it contains a recipe card, detailed instructions, and a QR code for the troubleshooting section of Forij’s website. 

Believe it or not, mushrooms don’t grow in the dark. Your kit simply needs to be kept in ambient, indirect light at room temperature in your own home. Whatever conditions are comfortable for you to live in will be comfortable for your mushrooms. We recommend keeping your kit on your kitchen counter, by a sink as this area is the most moist in your home. Try to keep it away from any open window or drafts, because it reduces the humidity. 

Forij kits are intended for indoor fruiting. You will not get great yields if you grow them outside.

Three times a day with tap water. More, if you desire. Don’t worry, mushrooms are resilient and will find a way to fruit. 

With the exception of Pioppino and Pink Oyster kits, which don’t do well in refrigeration, all of the kits can be kept in the refrigerator for several months if you can’t use it straight away. 

Upon activation, your kit will take up to 2 weeks to start “pinning,” or producing baby mushrooms that start poking out of the “X” cut. After you see these baby mushrooms, it’s only a matter of a week to two weeks to harvest! Each variety is different. Pink Oyster and Lion’s Mane take no more than 7 days to see “pins,” while Speckled Chestnut and Blue Oyster take 2.5 weeks.

Your kit will provide anywhere between 3-5 flushes. Each flush, or harvest, will be smaller than the last. The whole process should take you 2-3 months, all flushes combined, and should yield anywhere between 1-3lbs of fresh mushrooms.

All of these mushrooms are edible, and delicious.

Blue Oyster, White Oyster, Pink Oyster - Mild and fleshy. Closest to the taste of fresh chanterelles. 

Pioppino, Speckled Chestnut - Nutty, earthy, crunchy. Tree nuts, cashews. 

Lion’s Mane: Stringy, sweet, absorbent. Reminiscent of fresh crab or lobster.

The reason you may not have seen them before is due to price point and demand – Some of them may only be encountered in expensive five star restaurants. Forij kits are made to create accessibility to high end, niche mushrooms.

No. They’re just gourmet. They’re delicious and do not contain psilocybin.

Please follow the instructions. Keep the kit in the box and just cut the perforated window to fruit out of the box.

When the flushes become super small, take out your kit from the box, open up the plastic, and bury the myceliated sawdust in your garden. This is highly nutritious compost for your veggies and plants. You may also see mushrooms in the spring. Plants and fungi have a symbiotic relationship, they help each other grow. Your mushrooms will not compete with your veggie garden, they’ll only make it better.

Yes, thoroughly. Mushrooms contain a protein called “chitin” that is indigestible to humans. Always cook mushrooms before consuming.

If you follow the instructions provided, your kit will fruit. Forij has never seen a customer with a kit that has failed to fruit. However, there is a 100% replacement guarantee if the first flush doesn’t work with you, so contact the company if this happens.

Spores are everywhere when you walk outside. They’re a part of our lives and they’re perfectly harmless. One kit in your home will be totally fine and you should not have to worry about it. Your kit may “sporulate,” where the spores simply fall like dust on your kitchen counter. Wipe away with a wet cloth and throw it away, and it’s all cleaned up.

All of these mushrooms are highly nutritious and have different nutritional benefits.

Oyster mushrooms - contain ergothioneine, a molecule that reduces risk of heart disease. 

Pioppino - used in Traditional Chinese medicine to treat fevers, fatigue, headaches. 

Speckled Chestnut - anti-inflammatory 

Lion’s Mane - neuroprotective

Each kit contains a recipe card specific to that mushroom. Forij also regularly posts recipe inspiration and promotes local chefs doing cool things with mushrooms on their instagram, check it out - @forijmushrooms.

Pink Oyster - Scientific name Pleurotus djamor. The pink oyster mushroom is native to southeast asia. It’s a tropical species that fruits in bright pink clusters of delicious oyster mushrooms. This mushroom pins and grows out the fastest, it’s a very aggressive species. However, due to it’s tropical nature, the fungus dies in refrigeration which is why it’s not available in grocery stores. Pink oyster mushrooms have the highest protein content of all oyster mushrooms, which is why they’re used as a great vegetarian bacon substitute. 

Blue Oyster and White Oyster - Scientific name Pleurotus ostreatus. Blue and White oyster mushrooms are the same species, just two variations. They taste the same and there’s no difference besides the colour. Mild, fleshy, and delicious, these mushrooms are great in a pasta dish or a stir fry. 

Pioppino - Scientific name Agrocybe aegerita. Pioppinos, or black poplar mushrooms / cinnamon caps, are native to China and southern Europe. They’re known in Italian cuisine as a delicious umami-packed mushroom. Pioppinos are used in Traditional Chinese Medicine to treat fatigue, fever, and headaches. With delicate stems and crunchy caps, they have an extremely nutty flavor profile: think tree nuts and cashews. Try them on a rice bowl or over a thick slab of buttered toast. 

Speckled Chestnut - Scientific name Pholiota adiposa. Speckled Chestnuts are beautiful because they have these speckled, scaley caps. They’re native to central Europe. They have a tougher, crunchier texture than most mushrooms (think asparagus) and a nutty flavor profile. 

Lion’s Mane - Scientific name Hericium erinaceus. You’ve probably heard of Lion’s Mane in your functional supplements and tinctures–it’s a highly neuroprotective, anti-inflammatory mushroom. Tibetan monks drink Lion’s Mane tea before meditation to increase focus. However, Lion’s Mane is just as delicious as it is nutritious. It’s stringy texture is reminiscent of crabs and lobster. In East Asian cuisine, Lion’s Mane is cooked in soups and broths because the fibers absorb all of the flavor. It’s just as good in crab cakes or breaded and fried. The mushroom retains all of it’s nootropic properties when cooked.