the path is: spore(or tissue)>agar>grain>fruiting substrate. the grain allows you to spread the mycelium all around the substrate, and it also adds nutrients and gives the mycelium some food to start, like the yolk of an egg does for a baby chick while it's in the shell. colonized grain can also be used to store a good culture, whenever the culture eventually loses steam you can just pull out one single grain per petri dish and start fresh all over again.
i have a store bought baby bella in the fridge i'm gonna be putting on agar soon i'll post pics of how to do that but basically you just spray the mushroom with alcohol to clean the outside, then in the still air box you tear it open and take a piece of the inside out and drop it onto a petri dish or into one of the agar jars as above. the mycelium will start to grow from the tissue and you'll have a clone of the mushrooms they sell at the store. i'm glad you asked that i need to get that one done today before the button goes bad
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