In a first embodiment of the invention, aged brushite is combined with calcium sulfate hemihydrate and water to make a gypsum slurry. Aged brushite slurry behaves similarly to calcium sulfate dihydrate to act as a seed crystal and rapidly initiate crystallization. The brushite slurry does not require the addition of a coating to maintain its activity over time compared to calcium sulfate dihydrate set accelerators. A gypsum-based product made using brushite slurry as the set accelerator is a second embodiment. The product has the brushite molecules integrated as part of the calcium sulfate dihydrate matrix and is distributed throughout the matrix.