Mushrooms

Don't know if i should post this in this forum or in the general forum if you fell it should be moved please do so.

With the rainy season of spring arriveing the mushroom season will be comeing back. How many of you folks pic wild mushrooms , and what kind do you find where you live?

Woody

 

[vradin]

I can find morels and puffballs not too far away in the county forest preserves. Saute'd in garlic butter and layered over a thick rare steak with some grilled red onions :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

vic

 

[Gordon Horn]

Here in southern Iowa the Morel (sp?) mushroom is a big deal in the Spring. I like to hunt them almost as much as I like eating them. I'm sure most of you know what they look like, sponge on a stem, but watch out for the false ones. Some folks like the early grey ones the best for flavor, but I prefer the big brownish yellow ones myself. Bread 'em up and put them in the fryin' pan. YUMMY!

Flatlander

 

[PaulN/KS]

MORELS!We have a patch of them about 100 yards from the back door.Been wet enough this year so we're hoping for a good crop.Love to cook them in butter...ummmmm. ::

 

[KyFlintlock]

Woody,

Morels for me please! THey are great sauted in butter.

dry land fish! :RO:

 

[Flint50]

Found plenty of morels back in Ohio-great eating. Went to Texas in 1978-some locals told me about "mushrooms" Wont say anymore.....but.....those were the days! (glad those days are over)

 

Morels seem to always be the top favorite and rightly so.
I as most of you have them rated up there also.
I also like hens of the woods , stumpys, oyster ,chicken ,puffballs, and a rare find of pheasant back mushroms too.
All are very good eating.
I guess what I am trying to say is, I like the ones that are in season and ready to pick best :winking:

Woody

 

[Walker357]

I like trompin through the woods looking for the morels. My wife loves em', I'm allergic to em'. She fixes pumpkin blossoms just like she does the mushrooms. Says they taste the same. Don't know, don't care. :winking:

 

[buckknife]

I love morels,chanterrls are good also,still aint found no hen of the woods,keep an eye for em in the fall but i think they fly away before i see em ::
http://www.morel.org/Default.htm
http://www.bluewillowpages.com/mushroomexpert/morels/index.html

 

[Stumpkiller]

Morels are the only kind I dare take on my own. We have puffballs (our yard is edged on one side with a small stand of white pine and I get basketball sized ones occasionally - never had the nerve to try one). I used to work in a manufacturing plant that was in the middle of town (Scoville/Ansco/GAF/Anitec - the supplier to Matthew Brady for cameras & developing equipment during the Civil War), anyway, there was a large population of Czech/Poilsh/Ukranian families who had immigrated to that area. Spring mushrooming was bigger than deer season at that plant.

The big excitement was pupinkies (sp?) and these were spoken of in the same tones you might discuss where you were finding gold coins under tree-roots. From what I heard, there are seven or eight desireable/edible mushrooms in this area. Seeing as how we get 200" of precipitation each year that is no suprise.

I enjoy looking at them. We must have 100 different kinds through the non-snow season.

 

[tommag]

Stumpkiller, all species of puffballs are edible, as far as I know. Immature amanitas look like puffballs, though. SOme amanitas are edible, but some of the most poisonous mushrooms are found in the amanita family. If you get up the nerve to try them, cut them in half, top to bottom. If there is any indication of a "mushroom shaped line or outline" found in the cross section, it may be a young amanita. Once a puffball's interior turns from white to green, grey, or brown, it is too old to be much good. You might try "mushrooms demystified" by David Aurora, Ten Speed Press. It's a really good book that will warn you about many poisonous look-alikes.

 

[musketman]

Stumpkiller, all species of puffballs are edible, as far as I know.

That Stumpkiller is a fun guy...

However, his wife spells it fungi... :crackup: :crackup: :crackup:

 

[Stumpkiller]

Stumpkiller, all species of puffballs are edible, as far as I know.

See, it's them last five words that cause me to leave the wicker basket at the door and make the trip to the produce isle instead.

I even have a guide to edible mushrooms. Every stinking time I identify, say a wild whachamacallit, I see the little note that says: "see also: FALSE WHACHAMACALLIT - highly toxic."

And flipping to that page, it will look exactly like what I am standing over, maybe more so. I thought morels were safe, until some feller pointed out a false morel. Then I learn, there are NINE mushrooms described as "False Morels" with verying degrees of toxicity (on the Sudden Drop to Long Lingering scale of unpleasant death). So, my chances are 1:10. Much better than the lottery, but this 'chile has to be pretty hungry before I go experimentin with the "more difficult" variety of mushrooms. I'll stick to the easy morels.

 

Stumpy
I am sure you have aspen trees in your area.
Oyster mushrooms grow on semi dead aspen .
Aspen is the only tree that I have ever seen them grow on too. They grow in layers and are white in color. Try some of them when you get a chance and will be on the look out for them while out and about I'm sure. Also the only time I have seen them is in the spring of the year.

Woody

The midwest has a simular shroom that is like it and it grows on cottonwoods.

 

[Griz]

I gotta agree with stumpkiller on this one. I used to go for mushrooms, picked morels, hen of the woods, cauliflower, meadow mushrooms, sheeps head and sulfer shelf. Had good luck with them all and each one tasted different (some would give you a buzz) :crackup:. Till a friend had a nice sized sulfer shelf and took it home and ate it himself, 2 weeks later, when he got out of the hospital from dang near dyin' I rethought my mushroom pickin'. Now, I just stick to Giant Eagle produce section. Just a little to darn risky. Life is to short to spend time in a hospital to save a couple $$$$ on some portabella look alikes. :m2c:

 

I found * morels yesterday and also picked some wild leeks ( ramps) they are called in some areas. ummmmmmmmmmmm ummmmmmmmm good!

Woody

 

[Griz]

WOW, our morels and ramps won't be out for another month.I can almost taste those morels....been years now. Make chile with the ramps. You'll be sleepin' alone for a week :crackup: :crackup: :crackup:

 

Grizz I'm farther North that you are in the state so get out there and start loking. The ones i found were on an old logging skid road and were small. But i got them while the picking was good. Better me than a the weather again if it storms.

Woody