Blue oyster mushroom: Cultivation, benefits and recipe

Blue oyster mushroom (Pleurotus ostreatus), like king oyster mushroom, is a sub-specie of the oyster mushroom family. They have large blue cap that turns to gray when fully mature. Usually, the mushrooms grow on the trunk of dead and decaying plants as primary decomposers, and they are found in tropic and sub-tropic regions.

As an edible mushroom, blue oyster mushroom can be substituted for meat, fish or sea foods. It can be added as a compliment to both fishes and meats, due to its meat-like texture and great taste.

Where can you find blue oyster mushroom?

Blue oyster mushrooms usually grow in woody forests, on dead and decaying trunk of trees. Most times, it prefers humid environment with adequate rainfall. But if you would want to buy the mushroom, you can source it from foods and grocery markets and stores.

Nutritional benefits of blue oyster Mushroom

Blue oyster mushroom is richly packed with several vitamins and minerals of great benefits, especially the B group of vitamins. It also contains proteins and carbohydrates and a little quantity of fats.

Vitamins content of blue oyster mushroom

These include:

Vitamin B1
Vitamin B2
Thiamin
Riboflavin
Pentoteic acid
Folate
Vitamin C
Vitamin D
Nicotinamide
Nicotinic acid
Biotin
Ergosterol

Mineral content

Potassium
Calcium
Sodium
Magnesium
Zinc
Iron
Manganese
Copper
Selenium

Amino acids present in blue oyster mushroom

Aspartic acid
Threonine
Serine
Glutamic acid
Glycine
Alanine
Cysteine
Isoleucine
Leucine
Tyrosine
Phenylalanine
Lysine
Histidine
Arginine
Tryptophan
Proline

Health benefits of blue oyster mushroom

Although mushrooms, like vegetables have been considered as functional food, which may possess nutritional benefits, only a few people who consume mushrooms do so because their ability to protect them from certain disease conditions. A good number of people consume oyster mushrooms only as a delicacy. Their consumption in many developed countries has also been marginal and therefore didn’t, initially, interest researchers, until recently.

May protect against cancers

Blue oyster mushroom has been used as alternative medicine in the treatment of several cancers, such as breast cancer, prostate cancer, and colon cancer. Several studies have also supported the use of blue oyster mushroom as a cancer treatment and preventive agent. In one of such studies, pleurotus ostreatus showed strong activities against human breast and colon cancers. It strongly inhibited the proliferation of breast cancer cells without affecting the proliferation of epithelia mammary and normal colon cells. Furthermore, studies showed that the inhibition of cell proliferation by oyster mushrooms is associated with cell cycle arrest at G0/G1 phase in MCF-7 and HT-29 cells.

They also induce the expression of the tumor suppressor p53 and cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor p21. These studies proved that blue oyster mushroom could be a great supplement or home remedy for the treatment of cancers. You may prepare a soup with it and consume while taking chemotherapy.

Blue oyster mushroom may treat viral infections

Viral infections are the toughest and most deadly of all microbial infections. When they get into your body, they would hijack every cellular process for their reverse transcription and rapid replication. Most viral infections are difficult to cure with the available medications. This has led to the search for reliable source of therapeutic agents that would be effective in the treatment of viral infection.

Luckily, blue oyster mushroom is a good remedy for treating viral infections. It has strong activity against HIV and herpes viruses. It possesses ubiquitin-like protein which inhibit HIV-1 reverse transcriptase. Also, blue oyster mushroom can inhibit the viral entry of hepatitis C into the peripheral blood cells.

Blue oyster mushroom suppresses hypertension

Hypertension or high blood pressure, sometimes called arterial hypertension, is a chronic medical condition in which the blood pressure in the arteries is elevated. This forces the heart to work harder in order to circulate blood through the blood vessels.

Hypertension is a major risk factor for stroke, myocardial infarction (heart attacks), heart failure, aneurysms of the arteries (e.g. aortic aneurysm), and peripheral arterial disease and is a cause of chronic kidney diseases.

Blue oyster mushrooms possess compounds that inhibit the activity of the angiotensin-1 converting enzyme (ACE), which lowers the blood pleasure, exhibiting anti-hypertension.

Blue oyster mushroom reduces cholesterol level

Just like king oyster mushrooms, blue oyster mushrooms possess hypocholesterolemic properties. They can reduce your blood total cholesterol and triglycerides, significantly. This is due to the presence of an active compound, Lovastatin.

Lovastatin, like pravastatin, is a known active compound found in many nutraceuticals because of its strong hypolipidemic activity. Hyperlipidemia has been associated with increasing rate of atherosclerosis. This makes blue oyster mushroom a good home remedy for lowering high cholesterol levels.

Benefits of blue oyster mushroom for diabetes

Hyperglycemia and hyperlipidemia are important features of diabetes mellitus. In most diabetes patients, lipid peroxidation may lead to DNA damage, sperm abnormalities and impaired kidney functions. But blue oyster mushroom has proved to be a promising nutraceutical for treating diabetes.

According different studies on streptozotocin induced diabetes and alloxan induced diabetes, blue oyster mushroom showed strong hypoglycemic activities in both, making it a good candidate for treating both type 1 and type 2 diabetes mellitus.

Aside it hypoglycemic and hypolipidemic activities, the mushroom treatment were more effective for decreasing the genetic alterations and sperm abnormalities in diabetic conditions than in Amaryl treatment. It is also capable of improving impaired kidney functions.

The good news is that you can make blue oyster mushroom into a powder and add to your tea or custard foods. You can even add it in your fruit juices or cook food with it.

Benefits of oyster mushroom for immune system

Blue oyster mushrooms possess strong antioxidants and anti-inflammatory properties that boost your immune system. They also possess immunomodulatory activities. According to a study, blue oyster mushroom water extract has a role in increasing the production of reactive oxygen species from neutrophil, and has immunomodulatory properties involving all immunocompetent cells.

Blue mushroom may slow aging

Aging is associated with cellular and DNA damage and apoptosis due to the attack of free radicals. When your body is under intensive oxidative stress, it releases excess free radicals, more than the glutathione in your body can handle. This free radicals, having overpowered your body’s natural antioxidants, now begins to attack your DNA and cellular components. This in turn leads to massive cell deaths and aging of your skin.

But a regular consumption of blue oyster mushroom or other mushrooms can help scavenge free radicals in your body and give you a youthful glowing body.

Oyster mushroom may improve your fertility

Being enriched in zinc, selenium and folic acid, blue oyster mushroom may help improve your fertility levels by improving your sperm quality and functions. It is also good for a pregnant mother, due to its folate content. Folate is required for early development of the fetus and follicular tubules.

Blue oyster mushroom and spermidine

We may well say that the longevity which blue oyster mushroom, as well as many other species of mushrooms is known for is due to the rich presence of spermidine, a polyamine compound. Spermidine is known to activate autophagy in living tissues. Through this activation, your body recycles its old a d worn out cell parts.

Who should not eat Oyster mushrooms?

Prostate cancer patients

Like every other mushrooms, blue oyster mushroom possess high potassium and folate content. These are not good for prostate cancer patients. According to some studies, men with high potassium levels are more likely to have cancer than men with normal potassium levels.

Aside potassium, studies also found that folic acid supplementation is associated with increased risk of prostate cancer. These make oyster mushroom a no food supplements for prostate cancer patients. However, you may consult your doctor on this.

Kidney patients

If you are treating any kidney related diseases, try as much as possible to avoid potassium rich foods, like mushroom and tomatoes. This is because your kidneys lack the capacity to process excess potassium levels in your blood. This leads to another disease called hyperkalemia.

How to use Pearl oyster mushroom

There are several ways to eat blue oyster mushroom. You can make soup with it and eat as meat supplement or substitute, you can make a tea with it or add the powder in your foods or drinks. Whichever way you prefer, you would still enjoy the rich nutritional and medicinal values of blue oyster mushrooms.

Blue oyster mushroom tea recipe

To make blue oyster mushroom tea, dry a good quantity of the mushroom and grind into powder. Then follow the instructions below.

Ingredients

Two spoons of blue oyster mushroom powder
A spoon of Ginger powder
Half a spoon of Garlic powder (optional)
Natural honey
One and half a cup of water

Instructions

Bring your water to boiling point
Add 2 spoons of mushroom powder
Allow to boil for another 2 mins.
Add ginger and garlic powder
Reduce the heat and allow to steam for 3 mins.
Strain your tea and add honey to taste
Enjoy your tea hot or warm

Can blue oyster mushroom be cultivated?

Blue oyster mushroom is mostly sourced from wild environments. As stated earlier, they grow on dead and decaying tree trunks. In the wild, nobody initiated their growth. However, some people now cultivate oyster mushrooms in their gardens and on mediums that favors the growth of the mushrooms inside the farmer’s home.

How do you cultivate blue oyster mushroom?

There are several guides to cultivate blue oyster mushroom. But we shall present the best option to you, hoping that it would go a long way to help you cultivate your own mushroom.

What you need to get before starting starting blue oyster mushroom cultivation

Before starting out, order for these supplies :

Blue oyster mushroom spawns, which you can get by ordering them online.
Bags of suitable media to grow your mushroom spawns.
A substrate on which the fungi can feed on (straw, sawdust, or coffee grounds).
A spray bottle that’s not been used before.

Step be step of growing blue oyster mushroom

Having ordered your materials, the next thing to do is to follow the steps to cultivate your mushrooms.

Step 1: Pasteurize your growing medium

You can prepare your growing medium using coffee grounds, saw dust, saw dust pellets, cardboard, or straw. To do this, you’d need to pasteurize your medium to remove contaminants and other fungi that might have infected your medium material.

But if you’re using saw dust pellets, or coffee grounds, you don’t need to pasteurise it again. This is because both saw dust pellets and coffee grounds have been pasteurised. You only need to order it from the factory and use as your mushroom growing medium.

Step 2: inoculate your medium with your mushroom

Your medium is your substrate, remember that. Once it is pasteurised and set up, it is time to inoculate it with blue oyster mushroom spawn.

At this step, you would need to take extra care with regard to cleanliness and hygiene. This is because you’d not want to recontaminate your medium.

You would need to wash your hands with soap and sanitizer before handling your mushroom spawns. Also, clean all the surface of the area you do your work with sterilizers to remove possible contaminants.

-Ensure your medium is properly hydrated

-Now that you’re sure your substrate is moist enough to enable your mushroom growth, break down your mushroom spawn into smaller pieces and mix it with your substrate. (the more spawn you mix, the faster it would take to colonise your substrate).

-Having mixed everything up, place everything on a growth bag, poke small holes every 4 inches round and down the growth bag to ensure easy exchange of fresh air.

Step 3 incubate your mushroom farm

Having done the above, it is time to place your growth bag in a dark, warm room at 24 degree Celsius to incubate.

At this time, your blue oyster mushroom spawn twill begin to grow and colonize the substrate. This will take about 2 to 3 weeks to properly colonize the entire substrate.

You would also need to always watch your mushroom growth bag for any fresh contamination. Once you notice a strange coloured mold, discard the bag and start all over as your growth bag is contaminated already.

Step 4: Fruiting

Once your the substrate is fully colonized by mycelium, your mushrooms are ready to start fruiting. At this point, you’d need to place your bags in a space with autumn-like environmental conditions. These would include fresh oxygen supply, low level light, cooler temperatures and high humidity. You would start noticing small pin-like growths that would eventually become your blue oyster mushrooms.

Step 5: Harvest time

As your blue oyster mushrooms reach maturity, it is time to spend more time and attention on them, checking your farm every few hours. This is because the time harvesting too late and too early is just a few hours. And if you don’t pay extra attention, you might lose a great deal. Do not allow them to start dropping spores, this can be quite a mess to clean up.

To harvest your mushrooms, ue sharp knife and the entire cluster of mushrooms off the base. Do not twist or pull clusters off by hand. Doing so can damage the mycelium and introduce contaminants and prevent you from getting another flush from your bag.

References

Patel, Yashvant & Naraian, Ram & Singh, Vinod. (2012). Medicinal properties of Pleurotus species (Oyster mushroom): A review. World J Fungal Plant Biol. 3. 1-12.

Wang H, Ng TB. (2000) Isolation of a novel ubiquitin-like protein from Pleurotus ostreatus mushroom with anti-human immune deficiency virus, translation-inhibitory and ribonuclease activities. Biochem Biophys Res Commun 276:587-593.

EI- Fakharany EM, Haroun BM, Ng TB, Redwan, ER. (2010) Oyster mushroom laccase inhibits hepatitis C virus entry into Peripheral blood cells and hepatoma cells. Protein Pept Lett 17: 1031-1039.

Choudhury, Bazlul & Rahman, Tasmina & Kakon, Akhter & Hoque, N & Akhtaruzzaman, M & Begum, MM & Choudhuri, M Shahabuddin Kabir & Hossain, Shahdat. (2013). Effects of Pleurotus ostreatus on Blood Pressure and Glycemic Status of Hypertensive Diabetic Male Volunteers. Journal of Medical Biochemistry. 6. 5-10. 10.3329/bjmb.v6i1.13280.

Jedinak, A., & Sliva, D. (2008). Pleurotus ostreatus inhibits proliferation of human breast and colon cancer cells through p53-dependent as well as p53-independent pathway. International journal of oncology, 33(6), 1307–1313.

Alarcón J, Aguila S, Arancibia-Avila P, Fuentes O, Zamorano-Ponce E, Hernández M. Production and purification of statins from Pleurotus ostreatus (Basidiomycetes) strains. Z Naturforsch C 2003; 58:62-4.

Ghaly IS, Ahmed ES, Booles HF, Farang I, Nada SD. (2011) Evaluvation of antihyperglycemic action of oyster mushroom (Pleurotus ostreatus) and its effect on DNA damage, chromosome aberrations and sperm abnormalities in streptozotocin- induced diabetic rats. Global Veterinaria 7:532-544

Shamtsyan MM, Konusova VG, Goloshchev AM, Maksimova YO, Panchenko AV, Petrishchev NN, et al.(2004) Immunomodulating and anti-tumor effects of basidiomycetes Pleurotus ostreatus (Jacq.: fr) P. Kumm and P. conucopiae (Pau. Ex Pers.) Rollan. J Biol Phys Chem 4(3): 157-61