Are oyster mushroom cultures grown on petroleum laden substrates edible?

Question

I recently watched Paul Stamet' s TED discussion in which he described an oyster mushroom culture growing prolifically on a petroleum laden organic substrate..........it obviously works as far as refining such wastes, but........are the resulting 100 pounds of mushrooms edible, or just fodder for the compost heap?

Answer 1

I think they usually incinerate or otherwise dispose of them industrially since the point is to remove the contaminants from the ecosystem. I'm not entirely sure with petroleum, but I saw a study for mushrooms removing heavy metals from soil, and those they definetly had to dispose of like toxic waste.

Answer 2

You can eat them. It would not be very good though. It would most likely taste like petrolium since mushrooms act as sponges when it comes to surrounding flavors. This is why they are so versatile in the kitchen.