collecting edible wild fungi

blowin · collecting edible wild fungi

This is a bit of a hobby of mine . So far I've found field & wood mushrooms , amythist / deceiver , hedgehog , wood blewit , several different boletes , jews ear , one of the darkish types of chanterelle , ink cap , shaggy parasol and several lookalikes I just don't think are worth the risk .
Oh , and several giant puffballs but I couldn't get to them . But in looking for them I'm amazed at how many fields in the middle of nowhere have a football in them . Miles away from where you'd expect kids to play . Do you put them in to keep horses amused or something like that ?
Is anyone else into this interesting and tasty wild food ?

tringle

I dont eat mushrooms(dont shout at me, I just never liked the taste) but darling husband loves them. Im terrified of picking them for fear of not knowing waht they are.

so...blowin, for an autumn meet would you like to organise a fungie expedidtion for us all and the idiots among us can learn waht is safe to pick and what is a widow maker

blowin

Haha , "beginners" , not "idiots" . IMHO the real idiots are the tv program makers who show a celebrity chef pick 15 varieties in as many yards . This can only disillusion the novice because they simply do not grow like that . Alternatively it might do him a serious mischief because the red one the chef cooked has a very common and very dangerous look-alike which he didn't mention !
I think it's a great idea to get together for a forage and I will be happy to tell/show what I can . Please just bear in mind that I am an enthusiastic amateur rather than an expert ( so don't sue me if you poison yourself ) . There are 3 or 4 quite common fungi which are good to eat , very easy to identify and are certain to be the topic of conversation when you serve them up on toast .

wayland

Now I know that I am going to spell it wrong but, you dont know by any chance where any Psylacibii grow. Do you ? Cool

blowin

"Silly 'shrooms all over my fields Shocked

gai

Loads of shaggy parasols here. They grow in the hen run and the sheep field. I had so many last year that I dried lots. I wouldn't be too sure of identifying any others though.
The football in the field thing is for lambs, I kid you not. Young lambs love to play with footballs and even when they grow up and move on the football usually gets left for the next batch. I'm serious, I've got 2 in my own field.

admin

gai

Huge Shaggy Parasol fritters with crisp crunchy batter - mmmmmmmmm. Very Happy

Can't do that with the dried ones though. Crying or Very sad

blowin

Sounds lovely . I wonder whether you could flash fry then freeze . Batter when thawed prior to cooking ?

Has anyone seen Caulilower fungus over here ? Don't worry about the precise i/d for now . They look like a slightly open-textured , off white to yellow-brownish cauliflower , invariably growing at the base of connifer . These are nice , particularly in soup . They are quite easy to identify but there are a couple of look-alikes which aren't so good so you would want a bit more detail than I have given above before eating your find .

wayoutwest

ooo, a mushroom finding meet - now that sounds like a great idea. We've both wanted to do that for ages.

blowin

Cool !
And others will certainly want to join in once they have tasted a few Wink

BTW I am going to try cultivating a few of the easier types if I can ever find the time . Has anyone already done this ?

bref

Not yet Blowin. Im determined to give the puff ball a go though. The fella I;m renting the paddock off for my pigs has given me a few tips and has all the horse manure I could ever want.

Now, is it time for Morels yet? Im goin mad to find some.

blowin

Do let us know if you find Morels . I have been looking for years but with no luck .
Apparently they can often be found in the rosebed if you use manure as a mulch !

admin

Hiya , I am just bringing this back to the top so we can talk about it now then completely forget it before the autumn comes . Rolling Eyes

. That will avoid the risk of anyone actually organising a fungi foray ! Laughing

There was an early flush of fungi around here about a month ago but no edibles that I could recognise . The smaller ones are now quite scarce again but some large white bracket fungi are getting even bigger by the day so something is happening . Are there many of any type of fungi to be seen around you ?
Any field mushrooms yet ?

bref · First giant puffball

I found a giant puffball yesterday. I was very happy to do so. I had a fantastic tea. It was only about one and a half times the size of a tennis ball and the slugs had been at it, but I got enough for a pan full. It was beautiful. Yummy.
I also found a shaggy ink cap, so maybe all this rain has an upside..

blowin

Nice one Bref !
I still haven't found puffball but did spot a couple of large Horse mushrooms yesterday . It will be a bit of a challenge to get to them but I feel an adventure coming on Cool

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RE: puffballs -- did I mention that a lot of the large white blobs in the fields are actually footballs , as I have discovered to my embarasment on more than one occasion ( must get a new set of specs ) . This kept fooling me because you would not expect balls to be lying around in the middle of nowhere . It turns out that they are intentionally put there to keep lambs amused , not that I have ever seen a lamb anywhere near one .
Still nothing edible in the woods , tho' . I must get out a bit more !

wayland

I also have noticed many types of fungi growing. Not that I am particulary great at their recognition though. Nice idea teaching the lambs to play foot ball. I must try it with me goats Very Happy

i have seen many types of fungi over here that I have not seen before. Can anyone recomend a good book to aid ident?

blowin

Just had dinner-plate sized mushrooms for our tea , simply fried in butter with a little salt , and absolutely delicious they were too . Several others in the field had already gone over so it is well worth having a good look around asap .
I have a load of books on fungi and some of them are seriously misleading IMHO . Not so much because they tell you something is "edible" when it might not agree with everyone , but more because they fail to point out instances in which there are poisonous species which look just like the one they are giving you the recipe for . ( This happens quite often on those chef / foraging tv programmes too ) .
I will look up the title of the one field guide which I do find to be very useful . Please SHOUT if I haven't posted it up in the next day or two because I have a memory like a sieve .
I heard a very useful tip . I can't remember the actual figures but it was something like :- you might come across up to 600 different fungi in Europe but of these only 15 are really worth worth eating and a similar number will kill or make very ill . So , get to know that 30 really well and only mess about with the others if you are really hungry / adventurous or bored ! Laughing

I guess I have confidently eaten about 15 , have identified but daren't risk possible confusion over another 1/2 dozen , and very definitely avoid another 6 . That serves me well for foraging purposes .
I will see if I can put a few notes and threads together for each of the most common edibles if that would be of interest to anybody . And if they promise not to sue me if I get it wrong ! Laughing

wayland

Thanks for the advice Blowin. I was taught at an early age how to identify the field/horse mushroom and the death cap. and the giant puffball and a few others I am ok with but, The books that I have show prime examples of the differant species and not all growing examples are what we may call prime. It is funny how peoples perception differ. I was always told as a boy by local country people that horse mushrooms are not worth eating and puffballs were never taken. I only found out later that this was not the case.

blowin

Finally found it ! The field guide I would recommend is " Field Guide To Mushrooms of Britain and Europe " , authors Helmut and Renate Grunert , publisher Crowood Press , ISBN 1-85223-592-6
The pictures are well composed and show most of the fungi from several different angles to aid i/d . Simple illustrations make sense of technical descriptions such as " narrowly attached , adnexed gills " ! There are very useful comments and cross-references where there is any danger of confusion between several look-alikes , and a generally reliable ( ie tends to be cautious ) guide as to edibilty and/or side-effects Shocked

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If in any doubt I double-check all the features in at least one other , heavyweight reference book . Finally I cook them . Then my very trusting OH completes the test by being the first to eat them Wink

Actually there is some logic behind that . I drive faster than she does so could get to the hospital quicker . And if I poisoned her she would kill me anyway so I have a vested interest in avoiding that ! Laughing

wayland

Thanks for the ISBN No. I will go and scan for a copy. Laughing

I do see the logic in you OH being the chief giny**!! Tester. Laughing

blowin

Boletes have begun to reappear over the past couple of weeks and I have heard that Hedgehog fungi are out too .
Boletes are a good species to go for if you are relatively new to the game . The family is unmistakeable because they have pores rather than radial gills underneath the cap . Only one type is actually poisonous and it is very rare . It looks so gross you wouldn't fancy it anyway .
One or two can be unpalatable due to bitter flavour or , more commonly , soft / pulpy texture but with a bit of experimental nibbling and prodding you should soon get it right .
The Hedgehog is totally unmistakable and is one of the nicest to eat .

I guess I had better add the usual caveat about double-checking your i/d and not eating anything you aren't 110% certain about .
Good luck .

wayland

So what might I find in my rank neglected pasture land?
Cheers.

blowin

Well , er ... not a lot !
But seriously , there may well be fungi there but very few of them can grow and/or be seen thru the long scutch grass we have around here . I think that is just a matter of them being blanketed out . Once you graze or cut the pasture to , say , 4" or less you could find all sorts .
It would depend on soil type and condition but in addition to lots of small brownish things ( including psylosibe ) , which are often difficult to identify you should look out for the Field / Horse mushrooms , giant puffball and Parasol in the grass with Deciever and Blewit around the margins if you have hedges . Wink

wayland

Thanks Blowin. I must get the sward under some sort of control. It has been neglected for years. I got loads of work to do on the house so it might just have to be Pigs Very Happy

Sooner than expected. I will watch out for the Shrooms Cool

blowin

Finally got out into the woods about 2 weeks ago and found plenty of Deceivers and Hedgehog fungi . Both are good to eat . I find it best to fry in butter with a little oil added to keep it from burning . Add salt , too .
Cook all wild fungi thoroughly to get the best flavour and texture ( with the added bonus that heat destroys the more common toxins ! ) .
Deceivers benefit from being slightly scorched , which brings out their perfume .
Hedgehog give out a lot of water. The fungi should be nicely done by the time you have reduced the liquid to something like a glaze .
Deceivers can be tricky to identify but if you take note of the habitat , the overall colour of the fungi , gill structure and , in particular , the toughness of the stem then you shouldn't be at any risk from confusion . The difficulty lies in having the confidence to eat the first few because the pics in books etc quite often look a very different colour to the fungi on the ground . That is why they are called Deceivers ! Stick with the Amythist Deceiver to start with . Their colour is unmistakable . Just be sure that the underside is the same colour as the cap . ( If it is white you have probably got the slightly poisonous Lilac Mycena ).
Hedgehog is totally unmistakable . The underside has soft "spines" instead of gills or pores . Look in mixed woodland , particularly in dense patches of moss . The pics below are of slightly aged specimens . Unfortunately we ate the really tasty young ones before I thought about it . The older ones aren't bad but can be a bit bitter . Good luck .

blowin

Just bringing this back to the top as it already covers some of what I was going to say Wink

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May I suggest that we keep discussion about i/d , pics etc in this thread , and arrangements to meet over in the other one ? Just a thought .
Still no edibles other than the couple of small field mushrooms I found a while ago .

blowin

A general rule for avoiding some ( but not all ) of the really poisonous ones :- look at the base of the stem . If it has a swolen base with a "vulva" around it you would do well to leave it alone . Certainly don't put it in the same bag as anything you intend to eat unless you are certain of its i/d .
In more descriptive terms , if the stem looks a bit like it is growing out of a boiled egg shell ( with the top cut off ) , that could be a vulva . Not always but very often a warning sign .
Species with a vulva include the Destroying Angel and the Death Cap , both of which are lethal Wink

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blowin

There are quite a few look-alikes within the Agaricus family which includes the small Field or "button" mushroom as well as the dinner-plate-sized things . Some are better than others but it is extremely difficult to tell many of them apart . However , if you are looking in open pasture / meadow then the best and the worst do have distinctive features .
Both start off as a noticeably large "button" -- up to tennis ball size -- and can open to about 14" across the top altho they would be full of grubs by then .
Both can have slightly yellowish patches on the cap . However only one of them will turn chrome yellow where you scratch the stem or peel the cap . It will do this quite quickly -- within a minute or so . That is the "Yellow Stainer" and it will give you a very bad stomach for a couple of days .
At the other extreme -- "edible and excellent" -- is the true Horse Mushroom . Looks similar to the Stainer but if you peel a bit of skin you will notice a very distinctive smell of aniseed . This mellows when cooked . One of the best IMHO Wink

collecting edible wild fungi

First giant puffball