Mycoscope - Oct. 2026 Late Frost | | Discover watercolour by painting mushrooms! Whether you are a beginner or a master, this creative workshop invites you to slow down and observe before capturing the beauty of mushrooms. No experience is required, and all materials are included. | | Join our intensive "Mushroom Hunter-Gatherer" training course on February 6 and 7, 2027, and enjoy a guided summer field foray. Learn to identify local species and forage safely. Book your spot online today! | On May 2, 2027, we are offering a day in the forest searching for the first signs of spring: wild plants, seasonal mushrooms, and, with a little luck, morels. Guided by professionals from our team and Véronik Tanguay from Jardin de Vie, the excursion combines walking, identifying harvested species, and a tasting session in a secret spot in the Eastern Townships. Space is limited, so don't delay. Furthermore, we have already announced an excursion for July 11, 2027, just as chanterelles usually start to peek through. | | To transform your pumpkin into a mushroom vivarium just like our creation, start by emptying and cleaning a medium-sized pumpkin. Set aside the seeds to make our roasted pumpkin seeds recipe. Carve your pumpkin by cutting holes for the eyes, nose, and mouth. Completely fill the pumpkin with substrate inoculated with oyster mushrooms (our grow kits are perfect for this). Place the pumpkin in a cool spot and mist it lightly every day: in a few days, the mycelium will have colonized the substrate, and gorgeous mushroom bouquets will emerge from the holes. For a Halloween harvest, plan to start the project around October 19. Get Your Grow Kit | Udon, Miso, and Matsutake Before the first snows, we will be receiving more fresh matsutake from Quebec or the West Coast. This incredibly simple new recipe will keep you warm. It combines the silky texture of udon noodles, lightly salted miso, and this savoury mushroom. Cream brings these elements together into a flavourful dish—the perfect accompaniment to grilled white fish, for instance. Get the Recipe | | | | The Mycocycle Electrified by the recent UCI Road World Championships in Montreal, we dreamed up a fitting chimera to mark the event. Out front, a bicycle bursting with mushrooms—red with white spots like a fly agaric—attracts more than just flies: the eyes of passersby are drawn to our shop on Saint-Denis Street. Between its wicker basket filled with substrate and its straw bags ready to fruit, this display marries a passion for cycling with a fascination for mushrooms. | | A Canary in the Coal Mine? | Canaries perish when the air is saturated with carbon monoxide: they were kept in coal mines where their distress signaled to miners that they needed to flee immediately. The colour of the golden oyster mushroom (Pleurote jaune) resembles that of these canaries. An edible mushroom, its flavour is more delicate than that of its cousin, our pearl oyster mushroom (Pleurotus ostreatus). Like the latter, it is found on hardwood, decomposing its lignin and cellulose; however, being native to the temperate regions of East Asia, it is more thermophilic and dreads our winters. With climate change, frost-intolerant organisms are inevitably gaining ground towards the poles. The golden oyster is relatively tolerant, placing it at the forefront of a march that affects all life on Earth. | Already well-established in Europe, where it has just been declared an invasive species, it is advancing across North America. Its presence has been documented in southern Ontario. In 2024, during a bioblitz, Mycoboutique recorded its presence on the grounds of the Montreal Hippodrome, where it had been introduced in a community garden. | | Easy to cultivate, Mycoboutique uses it to create indoor grow kits. However, we do not offer this species as plug spawn for outdoor log cultivation: success is not guaranteed at temperatures below -20°C. The northward expansion of this climate migrant is unstoppable, though its potential impact on fungal diversity remains a concern. | | | | |
