Vomiting after eating grow bag mushroom... brown and greenish look ok?

Hi there,

First time grow bagger here, I picked up a bag [ Aug 09] from a farmer's market and after one week it grew a huge mushroom inside, I was instructed to fold bag over it to remove air and the brownish coloring in the bag was fine... enlarging the pic the brownish coloring has green also. I cut an X near the internally fruited mushroom. About a week later [ Aug 25] I harvested a large piece and cut in half, sauteeing half with onion and garlic and put the rest in the fridge. I was violently sick not long after twice.... was it something in the grow bag? Here are pics I took of the grow bag today...

Hello! Hope you are feeling better 🙏

Could you pls clarify, what species are you growing? Do you have photos of the mushrooms you harvested and ate?

Regarding you grow bag, I don't see any sign of mold (green mold in particular). Some yellow/brown color is fine.

The only tiny issue is here - small wet spot, (possibly slimy) - this could be mild bacterial contam (see photo below).

However, it couldn't cause a sickness, espesially if your mushrooms were good and after sauteeing

Hi there,

Sorry, i did not realize anyone had replied. Thank-you I am feeling much better... but can't stomach eating anymore of this or even looking at it.... and it is a brand new bag! Here are some pics of whar kind it is... It has been in the fridge with a light wrap on top. I am wondering if I should continue growing these and dehydrate them and use sparingly in soups or something to not waste it but really prefer to throw the whole thing in the garbage, I felt pretty gross... lol I don't know if the mushrooms were good after sauteeing, they looked fine prior to cooking but then I got pretty sick so I don't know...

Hey GB,

The good news:

1. the Oyster mushrooms like you showed look good and healthy

2. your grow bag is fine as well

3. most importantly, you ate homegrown mushrooms, not wild-picked ones, which are harder to id and can be much more dangerous.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not trying to justify your mushrooms. I just want to point out what went right and what might have gone wrong.

Have you eaten edible mushrooms before? (I assume, you have!)

Did you ever experience any side effects like stomach heaviness or nausea after eating mushrooms before?

Do you remember how long after eating the mushrooms you felt nausea and vomited?

It’s possible you might have some issues with chitin digestion. Chitin is a tough, insoluble fiber. To break it down you need proper cooking and your stomach needs to produce enough enzyme called chitinase.

So, if:
1) your mushrooms were undercooked (you need to boil or stew them for 20-30 mins)
2) you have sensitive digestive system
3) your body produces low chitinase

These factors together could lead to your vomiting. Other side effects are abdominal pain, nausea, diarrhea.

Also, try to recall if you ate anything else that day which might have caused your sickness.

Hope you're doing better today 🙏

Wow, thank-you so much for your excellent reply. It helps to give me understanding. My gut was hurting a bit and pretty nauseous as the day went on... I am pretty sure it was the mushrooms alone... some were a bit chewy even though stir fried so maybe a short boil first then? I didn't know oyster mushrooms needed to be cooked this way. Although, pretty turned off at the thought of eating these again. Thought it would be both ends but just vomiting hardcore to expel every piece, nothing digested at all. It just in my gut until my body needed to do what it needed to do to get rid of it.

I do eat cremeni, and regular mushrooms from the grocery store, no problems ever with them. As far as the timeline, probably started to feel sick within a couple of hours and maybe within 4 hours started to vomit, bit dizzy and nauseous... took another 30 minutes or more for round two then new it was over as the nauseousness went away. Maybe it was too much of these mushrooms and they were undercooked and my body just couldn't deal with them.

Thank you so much for your time and insight, very, very much appreciated!

Roughly speaking, chitin indigestion (lack of the chitinase enzyme) can be compared to lactose intolerance (lack of the lactase enzyme). Proper cooking and eating in moderation usually prevent any problems — just like how someone might not tolerate whole milk but can still eat yogurt or cheese.

Thankfully, your case wasn’t something dangerous and nothing serious happened. It’s good that you felt relief after vomiting. In fact, your body made the smart decision not to push the undigested mushrooms further. Otherwise, you would have had problems later (in 6-12 hours) in your intestines (bloating, pain, diarrhea).

For now, stick to a light diet and avoid mushrooms for at least a month. You can dry your harvest if you’d like to keep it for later. Most importantly, listen to your body.

If you decide to eat mushrooms again (any kind), consider prolonged cooking, such as boiling followed by stewing/frying, or boiling + fermenting (I can share a proper recipe if you’d like 😉). And don’t eat too much! Just a few fruits for flavor, or up to ~50 grams should be enough in your case. And again, listen to your feelings!

Take care 🙏

I really appreciate your time and information. Everything you said makes sense.. and maybe I ate way too much of this as a meal and my body couldn't deal with it. I did take the chunk in the fridge and cut it up and put it on a plate to air dry... I do have a dehydrator but air dryer is working and I will do this for the next one that comes up and only add a bit to soups etc for flavor.

I would love your recipe!! :)

Hey GB, I hope this message finds you well. How are you doing?

P.S. I'll share a recipe for making proper tasty fermented mushrooms in a separate post (you'll see it on the main page) and notify you here as well ;)

As I promised, here is the recipe with some tips https://shroomok.com/en/wiki/lets-cook-fermented-mushrooms