Back to The Roots Organic Pink Miniature Mushroom Grow Kit, Harvest Gourmet Mushrooms in 10 Days

So, first, if you are expecting to grow the best mushrooms ever, or save a mad amount of money over the grocery store, this is not for you. This is more of a science project, craft kit type deal. You are buying a kit that has everything you need, is easy to use, to amuse, entertain, and learn. I have bought probably 10 of these over the years, because they do indeed amuse and entertain my son. I had never had an issues with them growing. If you have trouble, I'd suggest resoaking, scraping, and water them more like a child excited for them to grow and watching in amazement how they are so much bigger than they were two hours ago. They say mist like twice a day, my son is misting every couple hours, and it is not a light mist at all. Also, when you can no longer see them growing, time to harvest. And don't forget to repeat with all the sides, you might be surprised. Even when I think it is all done, I break it up into a dish, and I will usually still get one more. Now, one of the more recent kits I bought from Amazon was a different story. ok normally, there is a brick of dry substrate, coated with this kind of white or pinkish or brownish crunchy fuzz layer. yeah, it is not pretty but that is why it grows so well. This more recent bag was sealed, but worse, more of a wet sludge, jello, and a little bit of brick left. I knew this wasn't right, but gave it a go. I took pictures in case, because hey, everywhere they say guaranteed to grow, reach out to us, yada yada. needless to say this did not work. So on a Sunday, I emailed the company with the picture, and the lack of growth, expecting I might hear back in a week, probably have to jump through some hoops, after a form letter or two, from someone who doesn't speak the same English I speak. Instead, I got an email that day from a very pleasant woman, in the US, who confirmed that was not healthy, looked really old, and entered an order to send me a new kit right away. No receipt request, no hoop jumping. It left the next day, and within 7 days from my email, not only had I heard back on I email, I already had mushrooms growing on the replacement kit, as you can see from the picture. I have not been these pleased and impressed with customer service in like 20 years. So yes, not only does the core product meet the manufacturer's description, with grow indoors, convenient, and easy, but I can now say that they really do honor that part of the description "GUARANTEED TO GROW: Made in the USA and 100% Guaranteed to grow. If you are not satisfied, simply message us and we will send you a Back To The Roots replacement". It really was that easy and super fast. And again, this was just one problem out of like 10 kits. I can also say the give one grow one is honored as well. I find the entire description to be very accurate. Well, except maybe beautiful packaging. It is good packaging, well printed, well worded, but it is still a cardboard box, beautifully packaged is a stretch. Economical, well designed, and very representative of the purpose is more apt. In short, If you or your child likes natural science, and would find it interesting, and get a kick out of how fast they grow once they get going (it is amazing), this is a great product. As long as go in expecting a science kit and not a grocery store or farmers market cost effective replacement, you should be happy.

I ordered the shiitake log and the oyster box for my dad for Father’s Day. He’s an older guy, retired, loves to garden and expressed interest in growing his own mushrooms. Despite him having no experience in growing them previously and being older and not one to reach for google for questions/answers should they arise, it seemed easy enough to start. To my delight- the process seemed extremely easy for him and both products were fruitful within days. The directions were simple enough to understand yet in depth as far as any questions one might have. He was so excited about this process he wanted to learn more and ended up calling the number on the back. He spoke with Andrea and not only was he so thrilled to be talking with a real person, she went above and beyond talking with him about all the details, tips and tricks, what if’s, and other ins and outs. They spoke for over an hour, my mom was able to send her pictures, and she ultimately showed him a kindness and level of patience that is rarely found in this world. Her knowledge, kindness, patience, and overall customer support impressed him and myself so much, that his excitement for these products and the process after this conversation was only inflated more. We will absolutely be ordering more in the future. Their products work just as they say, they are a small business that backs their products, and ultimately the people behind the company are wholesome and kind. No better option out there in my opinion. A huge thank you to the gal who took the time to support and grow my dad’s interest in his new hobby.

Summary: product quality is hit or miss, customer service directly with Back to the Roots is a struggle. Support a small business and order a larger, better-priced grow bag from Etsy (there are tons of mushroom growers on there). Review: When the product arrived the mushrooms had already grown inside the bag and decomposed. I completely understand this is a live product and things like this are possible. I contacted the company directly with photos and had them confirm the block was not in a state to continue producing mushrooms (as it had used most of its energy fruiting in the bag during storage/shipping). They agreed the block had gone bad and asked where to ship a replacement, but responses from the company were delayed 5-7 days. I had to reach back out to them twice to confirm the product could be replaced, then again to confirm if a replacement had actually been shipped. I never got confirmation of shipment for the replacement as they said they would send. During the first week of downtime in communication from Back to the Roots, I decided to contact Amazon directly for a refund, as I was unsure the product was actually being replaced. Amazon insisted that I ship them the bag of decomposed mushroom juice in order to be refunded. Not only is it nonsensical to ship a bag of decomposed organic material to be disposed of upon receipt, but I had thrown the bag away earlier in the week because of the odor. After explaining this to Amazon multiple times (going in circles), I was able to get this resolved. Earlier today - to my surprise - a replacement arrived that was shipped from Back to the Roots directly, but it was a different item than I originally ordered. Again, there is a significant amount of mushroom growth/decomposition in the bag, but this block is much healthier looking with near full mycelium coverage so I anticipate (hope) it will provide a successful yield.

Easy to follow instructions. The quality of the mushrooms is very good. The taste is very good too. At 1st they sprouted slowly then we got an abundance of mushrooms. Will recommend for anyone who loves mushrooms

They did really grow and tasted okay

Worth the money! Got 2 decent harvests from this kit. Super easy to grow. Just sprayed it with water daily 2-3 times per day.

My kids loved watching them grow and then we deep fried the oyster mushrooms as a snack!

At first, I wasn't as much of a fan of the way these taste, and I wasn't even really intending to flip the brick over for reuse. Little did I know this brick would refuse to stop fruiting! I ordered this thinking maybe the pink ones would be slightly more challenging to grow, but the truth is I received a really well colonized fruiting block and it hasn't yet stopped fruiting. No, I don't mean, I followed the directions and I cut a hole in the back and re-hydrated it and started over. Nope: I mean I harvested the mushrooms and noticed MORE pinning maybe 6 -12 hours later. I let those keep growing and eventually harvested them again, and you guessed it - I examined it just hours later and noticed yet more pinning! If these mushrooms grow large, they'll be the third gourmet meal I've had before even trying to fruit the opposite side. (*It should be noted that as an experiment, I gave my mushrooms an extra tent to keep their humidity in; it is made of saran wrap and transpore paper medical tape, so that might explain the continued growth? I also talk to them and play music for them (mostly Tool.) As for flavor and texture: I was very excited about these mushrooms, having heard they are like bacon, or ham, or calamari. I would say these are all fair flavor comparisons, and that they even have a light, mostly earthy, slightly seafood-like smell to them as they are growing. They say some mushrooms taste better torn than cut. I strongly felt I should follow that advice, and gently tore them into small, bite sized pieces. I believe I preserved flavor and avoided bruising by following the points that naturally "give" on them. We first put them in a risotto with white wine, lemon, and thyme. They were good. I waited a little too long to harvest the first fruiting, and as a result, some of them were still slightly rubbery - they grew past perfect for cooking before my very eyes! I did not make that mistake with the second fruiting. As soon as I tore them into little bites, they went into some fresh ramen, and were quite delicious. I probably won't buy this one again, but not because I didn't eventually get a good value. It was very hard to get a fresh block, free of contamination or decay from aborted growth through the mail. I don't know if it's a storage issue, or if returns are being resold without regard to why the return was made in the first place? I can only imagine. Anyway, I received a block covered in red and pink mycelium and liquid that smelled absolutely monstrous. The second had *chunks* of mushrooms that had attempted to grow on top and died inside the bag, rotting and dripping down around the block. It took three tries, but to Amazon's credit, the third one was beautifully fresh and free from contamination. If I came across a great price at the hardware store or Walmart, and could crack it open to verify the mycelium was okay, I would definitely buy the kit again! but ordering it by mail is playing Russian Roulette. It's just not worth the stress and disappointment. As described above, I've already had plenty more mushrooms grow than I ever expected. I will continue to use this incredible block until it stops fruiting, and I will update here to let everyone know exactly how many times that is. The reality is, I don't want to be wasteful, but I just like the flavor of the oyster mushrooms in the original kit better. I hope I can figure out the exact humidity those like to keep them fruiting longer too!