Kasha: Buckwheat Substrate Preparation Method

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orgonebox
Fnord Distribution Adjutant

Registered: 03/10/09
Posts: 3
Last seen: 16 years, 11 months

Kasha: Buckwheat Substrate Preparation Method

#10901850 - 08/21/09 12:21 AM (17 years, 2 days ago)

At one time a couple of months ago, I filled a couple of jars with some leftover kasha, on a whim, just to fill up space in my pressure cooker. I inoculated the kasha with a liquid culture of agave nectar and a PE multispore syringe. The results from those two jars were astonishingly fruitful. One tray, after total dessication and subsequent rehydration, produced a third and a fourth flush after being buried outdoors in my garden. That lead me to go ahead and write up the method I used for creating a second round of jars in order to encourage collaboration and experimentation with this type of substrate.

Kasha vs. Buckwheat

While kasha is often the name given to toasted buckwheat groats, when I write of kasha, I'm talking about the eastern european recipe, which involves mixing a beaten egg in with the groats right after they've toasted, but before adding water.

The ingredients

1 cup hulled buckwheat groats (180g)
1 cup water
1 large or medium egg, beaten

The equipment

1 fork
1 rubber spatula (of the type used for scraping bowls of frosting - my grandmother always called them "boycheaters")
1 large, wide pan for toasting
1 regular cooking pot/pan with lid
A bowl or platter with a lot of surface area

The method

Find a large, wide pan and set it on medium heat. Add the buckwheat. After five minutes or so, you'll notice a toasty smell. At that time, begin to toss the buckwheat in the pan approximately every minute to ensure that even toasting occurs and nothing burns. If you look closely, you'll see wisps of steam curling up the sides of the pan.

After most of the groats have changed from green to brown, dump them in the cooking pot and add the beaten egg. Stir like crazy to ensure even distribution of the egg. Add the cup of water, bring to a boil, then immediately cover and place on the lowest heat setting. NOTE: This will make the kasha a bit more toothsome than what you might have as a meal.

After ten minutes or so, the kasha will be ready. Using a rubber spatula, remove the kasha from the pan and dump it into the bowl or onto the platter, and proceed to spread the kasha into a single layer. Be careful not to smush any of the groats - use gentle pressure. Allow the kasha to steam off completely until it reaches room temperature.

At this time you may either refrigerate the kasha, or go ahead and pack it into jars. My experiments have all been with 1/2 pint jars, both skinny and widemouth, although I suspect any volume widemouth jar would work. The main point is to be able to remove the colonized kasha without smashing the groats. Cover the groats with your favorite air filtering method (1/2" verm, tyvek, filter disk) and pressure-cook as per the pf tek.

Another note - I've only used liquid culture to colonize my jars, but only 1cc per half-pint jar, and they've all taken off.

Right, there you all go - have fun with it. I'll post pics of fully colonized jars tomorrow, as well as the spawning, casing, and fruiting as it occurs.

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