Ferment Mushrooms into a Briny, Look-Sea

Yes, you are going to be turning oyster mushrooms into scallops. What’s not to love about going wild in the kitchen. Find oyster [aka royal trumpet] mushrooms at Asian markets. Choose only blemish-free, uniformly white stems—about as wide as your thumb. If the stems show dark striations, they are too old

1 QUART

INGREDIENTS: To achieve a seafood base, use either a 4-inch piece of dried kombu, or 1 tsp of kelp granules. Note: if you run out of oyster mushrooms, add cremini or other mushrooms to make up the quart recipe [as I did in the photo below]

• oyster mushrooms – 1 LB, trimmed, 3/4 inch thick rounds
• Sea Brine [Kombu Dashi]
  • water – 3 cups
  • kombu/kelp, 4″ piece, or 1 tsp granules
  • sea salt -2 tsp
  • fish sauce – 1 1/2 TBS [or vegan Worcestershire sauce]
• garlic – 2 tsp, minced
• scallions – 1/2 cup, white part, thin, slant slices
• horseradish sauce – 1/2 cup
• lemon, 1, both zest and juice
• asafoetida powder* 1/8 tsp [aka “hing”] or 1/2 tsp garlic powder

* Asafoetida [hing] is one funky spice that shouts ” garlic and shallots” without being an allium. I use it whenever I want a pronounced allium taste with just an 1/8 tsp.

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Bring the brine to a simmer, while prepping the mushrooms
2. Add the mushrooms to the brine and simmer for 4 minutes
3. Strain the brine and measure 2 cups while cooling the mushrooms
4. Toss room-temperature mushrooms with remaining ingredients and load into a 1 quart jar
5. Pour in the room-temperature brine until almost full and seal according to manufacturer’s instructions
6. Ferment for 3 days in a conditioned space no warmer than 75 degrees. If you have a room on a slab foundation, place on floor out of direct sunlight. BTW, the floor maybe up to 2-3º cooler than at counter height.

These are also delicious as an appetizer

• Serve with crackers, a squeeze of lemon juice, and cocktail sauce
• Serve with warm butter
• Serve as a salad topper

When serving as an entree, toss them off-heat into your cooked dish, to preserve their live-culture.

Radish Scallops are also Rad!

Try both recipes and get some gallops out of your turf scallops…

Another land scallop discovery! Enjoy these Daikon Scallops with equally remarkable flavor

©Meat-Believe Scallops, 2025, Bill Hettig