Really, popcorn? I’ve seen a couple mentions but hadn’t read anything definitive on it. What do you do to get the right hydration? From what I’ve been reading, the process for rye grain is to basically wash them, then soak for 12-24 hours, cook it for about 15 minutes, then let it dry out for a couple hours before tossing it into jars for the pressure cooker. I’m guessing the popcorn kernels are somewhat similar?

I only ordered the rye online because I was too lazy to check the local stores, and wasn’t in a huge hurry anyway. The package I got was $17 for four pounds but I figured there would be better deals if I had shopped around.

As for contamination, it doesn’t really look like mold, and certainly isn’t spreading as fast as mold does, so I’m holding out hope so far. I figure by the time it’s fully colonized I’ll be able to get some decent pictures. Or even if it’s mold. Right now I’m trying to keep it in the dark as much as possible.

RE: the rye grain… yeah I agree that was way expensive! I’m not doing anything in bulk though and don’t really have the space to go crazy with all this, but at the moment I haven’t even been to the local stores to see what’s available. The popcorn should be real easy to come by, though. One thing I did see, though, was adding gypsum to the water while cooking, which is supposed to help prevent the grains from sticking to each other. It looks like they’re suggesting about one tablespoon of gypsum per 5 full quart jars of dry grain. I wonder if this would help with the popcorn too?

So a couple questions here about the popcorn… If you cook it in the pressure cooker, is that done inside the mason jars or just directly in the pressure cooker with some water? I have one of the big ones for canning, so it seems like cooking directly would be more efficient just in a regular pot, and I’m guessing since you are trying to cook them at this stage you’re talking about doing it this way.

And for either method, do you add enough water to completely cover the amount of kernels you put in the pot, or do you only put a little bit of water in the bottom? And while the kernels are drying afterwards, do you do anything to protect them from picking up any contaminants?

So this morning’s viewing of my cremini spawn… whatever is growing in there is definitely expanding. I’m seeing long white strands on all four sides of the container now. I think I’ll try to hit Walmart today to find a tub I can use to make a still-air box so I have at least a little control over contamination when I transfer my various spawn to the jars. Hoping to get some jars going this weekend.

OK I guess I’m a bit confused then… if I cook the kernels in a regular pot for an hour, then let them dry for several hours, what is the sterilization? I thought from your previous description that the cooking step also sterilized them, and then once they were sufficiently cooled and dried I scooped them into a clean jar with some spawn and sealed up the jar?

I used to have a small pressure cooker that fit on the burner, but my ex took that with her. The canner I have will easily do 15+psi and hold it for hours, but this thing is huge… I think it holds something like 18 quart jars?

OK I’ll play around and see what I can make work. Considering I seem to be having good success with the cremini spawn (which was literally just bringing the cardboard and water to a boil and then laying out on the countertop to cool down for about 30 minutes) I’m hopeful that I can pull this off too. I live near Denver Colorado so we’re quite high with a pretty dry climate usually, but we’ve been getting a LOT of rain this Spring so I figure the risk of mold spore is a lot higher that normal.

Anyway thanks for all the advice! Hopefully will be posting pics of some nice grain spawn in a few weeks!

You may be seeing pics faster that I expected! It’s been two days since I transferred my original spawn samples to the grain jar, I checked them today and the mycelium is already starting to spread to the grain. I was really expecting to need at least a week or more before I saw any definitive growth, so apparently they are happy.

I do have one jar of popcorn I am concerned about though. That one has little white dots all over the kernels throughout the jar, while all the other jars the kernels are still nice and clean. I’ll be watching that one closely to see what happens, although I’m not sure what would have caused contamination in that particular jar. It wasn’t even the last jar I loaded up. Maybe I’m getting worried over nothing, but I’m sure I’ll probably know in a few more days.

Considering this nice growth, I think I’m going to go ahead and transfer my cremini spawn to its grain jars this weekend. I’m getting nervous that the longer I wait, the greater the chance of getting some contam through the air holes.

Nobody honestly believes Putin started the war to fight Nazis, he just used it as an excuse because he thought the West would stay out of his way for this flimsy lie. Instead he was quickly called out for using resources such as his own Wagner Group in the war which directly recruit modern Nazis, and thus lost all credibility.

On reddit I typically ignore them as nearly all are either bots, paid propagandists, or Nazis themselves who are stupid enough to think they’re going to change someone’s mind. But Lemmy is a whole new ballgame, and if the poster IS one of the above trying to be sneaky about sowing doubt, I didn’t want to leave the comment unchallenged for others to get the wrong idea. I mean this whole post could have just been left at “Putin said…” and most of us just have a good laugh and move on. :-)

No matter how you look at it, Putin was just swinging his dick around thinking he was a big boy that could tell everyone else where to stick it. I really do believe he thought Russia was a dominant world power, but he’s living in the dark ages and didn’t have a clue that social media can change governments. Zelenskyy knew how to play the game and got people to care about his country again, and that immediately made a difference in how much aid they could ask for.

And on another note, any idea why Lemmy isn’t showing the image in the URL link I added to this post? It’s the full-sized jpeg of the same picture I added in the OP.

Same here… If I’m being served I will tip well. However if I call in my order, go pick up my order, and the “server” who took my order doesn’t even collect my money, then what my tips are really going towards is making up for the fact that the restaurant isn’t actually paying their staff a livable wage. During the COVID shutdowns, sure I was willing to help keep their doors open. Everyone is back to full business now, so what exactly are you asking me to pay for?