Merryhill Mushroom Grow Kit Review

Growing pink oyster and chestnut mushrooms at home.

The kits were kindly gifted to me to try, but all opinions are my own.

I didn’t even manage to properly set up the pink oyster mushroom kit before it started growing.

When I opened the box the mushrooms were already pushing out through the little plastic-covered holes in the side, clearly not interested in waiting for my weekend plans.

That felt like a promising start.

pink oyster mushrooms growing from merryhill mushroom grow kit — Pink oyster mushrooms growing from the Merryhill mushroom grow kit.

I’d been curious about mushroom grow kits for a while. A few years ago, I sent one to my parents as a Christmas present, and they loved watching the mushrooms appear almost overnight.

So when I was offered the chance to try a couple of kits from Merryhill Mushrooms, I was genuinely excited to see how they worked.

The kits were gifted to me to try, but everything here comes from actually growing and cooking the mushrooms myself.

About Merryhill Mushrooms

Merryhill Mushrooms is a UK company that specialises in ready-to-grow mushroom kits designed for growing fresh mushrooms at home.

Their kits contain the growing medium and mushroom mycelium already established, so instead of starting from spores you’re essentially caring for mushrooms that are ready to grow. The aim is to make it easy for beginners to grow edible mushrooms indoors with very little equipment.

Merryhill sells the kits as a pair for about £35, and you can mix and match the varieties. You can buy a single kit for around £19, depending on the variety. They have a lot to choose from, including Lions Mane, Shiitake, and other gourmet mushrooms.

The Merryhill Mushroom Kits

merryhill mushroom grow kits pink oyster and chestnut — The Merryhill mushroom kits I received: pink oyster and chestnut mushrooms.

The two kits I tried were:

• Pink Oyster Mushrooms
• Chestnut Mushrooms

Mine took a little while to arrive because the kits were temporarily out of stock, which is understandable when you’re dealing with a live growing product rather than something sitting on a warehouse shelf.

Once they arrived, I set them up in the dining room, on the sideboard, with a plastic bag underneath to stop water leakage.

Growing Pink Oyster Mushrooms

Pink oyster mushrooms starting to grow through the side of the box.

The oyster mushroom kit is very simple.

The box has three growing points on the side covered with plastic. When you’re ready to begin, you break the plastic and mist the mushrooms with water twice a day.

Mine were so keen to grow that they had already started sprouting before I officially began the process.

pink oyster mushroom cluster growing larger — The mushrooms grow noticeably larger each day.

Once they got going, the mushrooms grew quickly.

Checking them morning and evening became a small ritual because they visibly changed every day.

Within about nine days, the cluster had reached full size.

A full cluster of pink oyster mushrooms ready to harvest.

Watching them grow felt a bit like a quiet experiment. One day there was just a box on the sideboard in my dining room, which doubles as my office, and the next there was a cluster of mushrooms appearing as if they’d decided it was a perfectly good place to become a woodland.

Harvesting the Oyster Mushrooms

harvested oyster mushrooms from grow kit — The harvested oyster mushroom cluster.

When the caps begin to flatten out, the mushrooms are ready to harvest.

You simply cut the cluster off close to the box.

The result was one large bunch of mushrooms, filling a bowl. If mushrooms aren’t the main part of the dish, that’s several servings.

Cooking the Oyster Mushrooms

I had never cooked pink oyster mushrooms before, so I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect. What surprised me most was the colour change.

The mushrooms start bright pink but once they hit the pan they turn golden, almost like sautéed onions.

pink oyster mushrooms turning golden when cooked — Pink oyster mushrooms turn golden when cooked.

They also hold their texture well and have a savoury flavour that works beautifully in stir fries.

I cooked mine simply with garlic, ginger and noodles with a simple sauce.

Another bonus is that the kit can produce a second harvest if you keep misting it.

Growing Chestnut Mushrooms

The chestnut mushroom kit works differently.

Instead of growing from holes in the side of the box, the mushrooms grow from soil inside the box.

chestnut mushroom grow kit soil setup — The chestnut mushroom kit setup with soil covering the growing medium.

To prepare the kit you cut along dotted lines on the box and raise the sides to create extra growing space.

Inside the kit there’s also a clear plastic bag which you pull up over the sides to maintain humidity.

Then you add 100 ml of water.

mushroom grow kit lid with tick boxes — The lid includes boxes so you can track the first week of growth.

And then comes the frustrating part.

You are not supposed to open the box for eight days.

The lid even includes tick boxes so you can mark off each day.

Curiosity makes this surprisingly difficult. I really wanted to lift the lid and look.

chestnut mushrooms growing in kit — Chestnut mushrooms appearing through the soil.

When the eight days were finally up and I lifted the lid, the first mushrooms were already emerging.

From that point they took about another eight days to reach harvesting size.

The first harvest gave me around eight mushrooms.

After that, a second flush appeared which produced a big bowl full of mushrooms.

To harvest them you simply twist the mushrooms gently at the base.

They were noticeably firmer than supermarket mushrooms and had a deeper flavour when cooked.

How Long Do Mushroom Grow Kits Take?

From my experience:

Pink oyster mushrooms

• appeared quickly
• reached harvest size in about 9 days

Chestnut mushrooms

• covered for 8 days
• about another 8 days to harvest

So roughly two weeks from setup to harvest for the chestnut mushrooms.

What I Learned Growing These

A few things stood out while growing the kits:

• Oyster mushrooms grow surprisingly fast
• Chestnut mushrooms require patience at the beginning
• The kits can produce more than one harvest
• Fresh mushrooms have a noticeably better texture than supermarket ones

If anything, the biggest risk with these kits isn’t failure.

It’s that they make supermarket mushrooms feel slightly disappointing afterwards.

What to Cook With Freshly Grown Mushrooms

One of the nicest things about growing mushrooms at home is that they go straight from the kitchen counter into the pan.

Because they’re picked minutes before cooking, the flavour and texture are noticeably better than supermarket mushrooms.

The pink oyster mushrooms worked beautifully in a quick stir fry with garlic, ginger and noodles. I made a simple sauce with oyster sauce, sesame oil and rice wine. They kept their texture well and developed a lovely savoury flavour once cooked.

The chestnut mushrooms were firmer and slightly more earthy. I used them in my Italian chicken recipe, where they held their shape perfectly in the sauce.

Fresh mushrooms like these also work well in:

omelettes
pasta dishes
mushroom stroganoff
simple butter-fried mushrooms on toast

Growing them yourself makes you look at mushrooms slightly differently. Instead of being something that sits forgotten in the fridge drawer, they become the starting point of a meal.

Check out my recipe index for more mushroom recipe ideas.

Yes. These kits make it surprisingly easy to grow mushrooms at home.

They are genuinely beginner friendly, require very little effort, and produce fresh mushrooms that taste noticeably better than shop bought ones.

Watching the mushrooms appear and grow is surprisingly satisfying too.

If you enjoy cooking or want to try growing something a little different indoors, these kits are a fun and very edible experiment.