Mushroom hunting, anyone?

[hummingbirdkiss]

I found the link to a morel thread but they are spring mushrooms and since it is fall and I could not find a fall mushroom thread?

 

I have tried to go out a few times and have gotten a few loads of chanterelle and some shaggy manes but our storms are making it impossible to go foraging . I hate to go during hunting season if the rain does not stop soon (I am ok foraging in the rain that rains DOWN but the sideways rain with branches falling after a long drought  ..not to mention we are having pretty serious floods I am thinking chanterelles are going to be done now and a soggy mess when I get out again (maybe tomorrow) I want to go look for boletus at the beach! Last year I found many huge kings boletus  in a campground …so I am going to make my husband go hunting on Wed for sure rain or rain 

 

I really want to get out this week and know I am not the only forager on EG that is out there looking? 

 

I have no photos to post but wondered if anyone is out hunting and would like to share their finds? there is nothing like some beautiful edible mushroom photos n the fall. 

 

 

anyone hunting? if so what are you finding ? 

 

I got the fever to forage for my favorite wild food!

but so much work at home it is hard to find balance in retirement I am telling you! 

 

 

maybe I will sneak out for a few hours behind my house today in the woods and orchards ..no one will notice me missing I do not think 

 

I adore mushroom hunting have been doing it since I was a child and used to follow the Italian grammas around the parks in Providence RI. That is where I learned to not eat ones that kill you and now that I am old I think I am an old mushroom elder now myself ..how on earth did that happen? 

 

 

[NewFoodie]

Here's a mushroom-hunting forum.  A number of people there hunt mushrooms for the table.

 

http://www.wildmushroomhunting.org/index.php/forum/1-general-mushroom-discussion/

[gfron1]

we also have a foraging page on eG, but this time of year they're getting very scarce. I have no mushrooms left to gather in my area and haven't in about 6 weeks. My focus is on seeds and dried berries til about late March of next year.

[Tri2Cook]

The matsutakes were late this year here but they're long gone now. That pretty much marks the end of the local season.

[NewFoodie]

we also have a foraging page on eG...

 

Can you give us a link to that page or tell us how to find it?  Thanks.

[gfron1]

Yeah, I was being lazy but I found it HERE.

[NewFoodie]

Thanks!

[hummingbirdkiss]

we should delete this if there is one ? I am all over the mushrooms and had good luck …it has been fun harvesting but the rains are here now so it is not safe to go foraging right now 

[TicTac]

Having briefly searched I could not find any threads on the topic.

 

Not sure if there are any other foragers on EG, I do gather there are many mushroom fans among us.

 

Typical mushrooms seasons appear in Spring time and in Fall in southern Ontario (Canada).  Now is the season, at least in my area, for Elm Oyster's and Puffballs (among others which I am still learning about!).

 

Luckily (aka hours of hiking - I have lovingly dubbed it treasure hunting - in the woods) I have an overabundance of Oysters (think much larger, meatier and more flavourful than what you get at the store!) so we are doing a mushroom dinner, and while I have many ideas, I was wondering if anyone has any special preparations for their favourite shrooms.

 

So far I am doing a mushroom saute with a olive oil poached yolk to mix - mushrooms w/herbs on toast - and mushroom risotto with many forms of fungi!  Also considering a grilled variation (as some of these beasts are the size of a dinner plate!).

 

Curious to hear if anyone else picks their own and what you all like to do with them!

 

 

Edited October 25, 2016 by Smithy
Adjusted title (log)

[dcarch]

Found these in my backyard.

 

dcarch

 

Edited October 24, 2016 by dcarch (log)

[Tri2Cook]

The only mushrooms I generally find this time of year where I live are matsutakes and most years they're not overly abundant. There are probably others still around but I don't do a lot of mushroom foraging so I don't know what they would be. There are only 4 types found locally that I'm confident enough about identifying in the wild to be willing to eat them.

[Nyleve Baar]

Oh lucky you! I am also in Ontario and have a Secret Porcini Spot which has never failed me yet...until this year. Not one single mushroom has come up this season. I'm blaming it on the dry summer. Hoping that the fungus is sleeping underground in preparation for a big crop next year. I usually get more porcinis than I can deal with - two dehydrators going full time and cooking them until no one can stand them anymore.I still have dried from last year to get me through.

 

Used to know an oyster tree but our neighbour cut it down. And I haven't found a single puffball this season either - don't like them particularly, but it's weird not to find even one. I did come across a fairly abundant crop of honey mushrooms (armillaria mellea) which I used to eat, but further research made me queasy about them - it seems that not everyone can tolerate them and some people get quite sick from them. Decided to leave them where they were.

 

Oh well. Next year. Enjoy yours while you can.

Edited October 25, 2016 by Nyleve Baar (log)

[TicTac]

I have heard rumors of porcini's in southern Ontario...lucky you!

 

I too am giving them away by the pound, we are only nearly caught up on frozen mushrooms (in a variety of forms) from last season.

 

 

[Nancy in Pátzcuaro]

Oh, don't get me started! My husband and I have been foragers for many years and have had great results in Colorado. We now live in México and are still learning about what's here and when to look for it--the seasons are completely different. However, when we were in Colorado this past summer we found that that our former favorite areas were completely empty. We suspect that because the insect infestation has destroyed the coniferous forests in the areas where we formerly found abundant mushrooms the forest ecology has changed. For one thing, the areas that once had dappled shade are in complete sun, which is bad news for most mushrooms. That, coupled with a dry summer and possibly unusually dry winter, means no mushrooms. I don't know what will happen in the next few years. Ideally the mycellium will adapt and survive to fruit again.

 

We saw no mushrooms. Nothing. Not even a little dry unidentifiable husk. It was eerie to be at over 10,000 feet and be in full sun with the ground crunching underfoot, surrounded by dead trees. I don't know how you have found it in your part of the world but in the San Juans of Colorado things are very bad. Fortunately I still have a stash of chanterelles in the freezer and about a gallon of dry porcini, but I think I'm going to be hoarding them.

 

For those of you who are finding mushrooms, enjoy. There is nothing quite so wonderful as the smell and flavor of a potful of chanterelles. I like them in risotto with bacon, and they're also very nice with chicken. Probably my favorite preparation is with bacon and potatoes, about equal amounts. Cook the potatoes beforehand, and then cook the chanterelles with the bacon and then mix them all together. This requires a lot of chanterelles, and I recommend that you don't skimp on that--it pays off in the end. Chanterelles and bacon--magic. I like oysters in an omelet. And porcinis--well, there are lots of recipes. And don't throw away the soaking liquid--it's like gold. Use it in polenta along with the reconstituted mushrooms.

 

Dang--it's 11pm and I have a craving for chanterelles. Too late to do anything about it now but tomorrow there will be risotto with chanterelles and bacon.

 

Nancy formerly in Colorado but now in Pátzcuaro

 

[Nancy in Pátzcuaro]

Oh, about preserving mushrooms. Freeze chanterelles and dry porcini and morels. I cook the chanterelles in a saute pan and when they've released their moisture and then sucked it back in, that's when I bag them up for the freezer. No additional fat or salt or anything else. I have a fond memory of my husband sitting outside on the picnic table cleaning the chanterelles and I'm in the  RV cooking them and putting them in baggies.

 

N.

[TicTac]

Great ideas Nancy.

 

If only I could find chanterelles, morels and the like.  I did find some mushrooms now (fall) which appear to be chanterelle 'esque, but was not certain so left them alone.

 

I had in one course planned to do a smokey component.  I was thinking some speck perhaps, or good old thick cut bacon...

 

 

[Nancy in Pátzcuaro]

I recommend buying a good book and learning how to do spore prints, or even going on forays with knowledgeable mycologists. This is how we learned originally. We no longer feel the need to know the name of every mushroom in the forest, just the ones we want to eat. Hence the chanterelles and porcinis. We rarely saw morels in Colorado but some friends who went to Nebraska City gave us a bunch that I dried. Morels are very interesting in that they're hollow--in fact that's one of the main identifying characteristic--which means they can be stuffed with goodies like crab.

 

Some of the books we have vary in usability, but the best is Mushrooms Demystified by David Arora. It's a big book that relies less on photos than a key system that will require you to look closely at the mushroom, at the gills and other physical characteristics. But if you're just interested in the easy edibles it's much simpler. And try to learn the Latin rather than common names because there are often multiple common names that can be confusing.

 

One hint--if you have any concerns about whether a mushroom is edible or not, take a small piece and chew it a couple of times and then spit it out. If you have tingling or other symptoms, that's your answer--it's probably not edible. If you have no symptoms, try eating a small piece and waiting to see what happens. This is what mycologists do, but they're all crazy and will put any damned mushroom in their mouths to try it out. Now, this can also mean that you're allergic to a particular mushroom. A good friend of ours, a wonderful cook and appreciator of good food, cannot eat chanterelles, a choice edible mushroom. They make his throat swell shut, which is never a good thing. And I can't eat any of the inky-cap family for the same reason, but I never found them very good anyway so it's no big loss. Just be aware of that.

 

There is only one mushroom that we'll eat without cooking--clavariadelphus truncatus, which is sweet. All the rest must be fully cooked before consuming. Those white button mushrooms you get in the grocery store, an agaricus species, are another exception.

 

I hope this isn't TMI.

 

Nancy in Pátzcuaro