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Fungi: the neglected kingdom

@Mullardman post illustrates all too well why even time-served foragers frequently stick to just a very few species simply because they cannot really be wrongly identified.

For me, I'd love to be able to spend several weeks, over various terrain, to cover the entire season and substrates, with someone who REALLY knows their stuff. Which @Mullardman obviously does.

I'll stick to Jew's ears - actually quite nice in my experience, if never likely to be collectable in a meal-sized quantity. (Get a lid for the frying pan too.)
Might be a good idea to find a different common name for your mushrooms...or switch to Latin.
 
Thanks for the responses but I really am not an expert.

In any decent season I see far more 'shrooms that I cannot positively ID, than those I can.

@ Vinny. Jews Ears ( Hirneola Auricula-Judae) are I think the same as what the Chinese call 'Cloud Ear Fungus'... they are cut into thin strips and used mostly to add a crunchy texture to dishes. We used to get some frozen ready meal stir fries in for emergencies.. can't recall who made them.. but they had a similar fungus in them. Maybe if you slice/shred them they might stay in the pan? :) I've never cooked them, but they grow pretty much any time of year, mostly on Elder.

From memory, here are the ones I've personally picked and eaten:

Wood Blewitts (Lepista Nuda) Sometimes also including the odd Lepista Sordida. A smaller, and as the name implies, grubby looking relative.. but edible. Cook them thoroughly as uncooked they can cause an adverse reaction in some people.

Shaggy Parasol. (Lepiota Procera) First one I picked, from a hedgerow when in Primary School. I took it to school, where a teacher took it up to the Secondary School and got it ID'd. Once I knew it was edible I brought it home and cooked it. Very nice.

Cepe (Boletus Edulis) Eat raw or cooked. Delicious.

Bay Bolete (Boletus Badius) Really superb. Better than Cepes, but rarer too.

Slippery Jack (Suillus Lutea) OK, but you have to get rid of the 'Slippery' bit .. which is a snotty mucus type coating.

Chanterelle (Cantharellus Cibarius) I've only found these in West Somerset, though I believe they are more widespread. Lovely..

Oyster Mushroom (Pleurotis Ostreatus) I can't comment on the affinity with fish because I don't eat fish. Goes well with Pork in stir fries.

Horn of Plenty (Pleurotis Cornucopiae) As above.

Beefsteak Fungus (Fistulina Hepatica) A bit sour. Probably best added to a good stew.

Chicken of the Woods ( Laetiporus Sulphureus ) When very young it is yellow all through and a bit astringent/sour. When a bit older, inside it literally takes on the appearance and texture of cooked chicken breast, and often forms into similar sized and shaped lobes. This is when it is best. It later becomes dry and chalky.

Horse Mushroom (Agaricus Arvensis) Very nice, but needs care to avoid confusion with the Yellow Stainer.

Giant Puffball. (Langermannia Gigantea) Supposed to be excellent but I was a bit disappointed. I haven't seen one for years.

Amethyst Deceiver (Laccaria Amethystea). Nice enough.. but usually too small to be bothered with.

St George's Mushroom. ( Tricholoma Gambosum) Pretty good, and appears much earlier than most.
 
ews Ears ( Hirneola Auricula-Judae) are I think the same as what the Chinese call 'Cloud Ear Fungus'... they are cut into thin strips and used mostly to add a crunchy texture to dishes. We used to get some frozen ready meal stir fries in for emergencies.. can't recall who made them.. but they had a similar fungus in them. Maybe if you slice/shred them they might stay in the pan? :) I've never cooked them, but they grow pretty much any time of year, mostly on Elder.

I have known Jews ears for many a year and cooking them, shredded or not, they hop around the pan more than somewhat. Eaten on their own, they have a very pleasant, subtle taste.
Do they grow on anything but elder? I doubt it.

Puffballs - any species - from what I have absorbed from others, they can be good when picked at the PERFECT point, but are otherwise not really worth the picking (never tried, myself).

Shaggy parasols (hopefully aka shaggy inkcaps) - supposedly VERY nice if caught before autolysis starts.

Oyster mushroom - good point - ought to go very well with pork.
 
Shaggy parasols (hopefully aka shaggy inkcaps) - supposedly VERY nice if caught before autolysis starts.

Shaggy Parasols are not the same as Ink Caps. Parasols are Lepiota and do not deliquesce like Shaggy Ink Caps and other Coprinus species. I tried firm young Ink Caps, when I was a teenager. I wasn't keen on the texture. Shaggy Ink Caps are known as 'Cocky Lads' in Nottm.
 
When I first moved to my current home, there was a pensioner who did gardening duties for my then neighbour. He reckoned to have made quite some harvest of one of the most desirable fungi under the innumerable conifers here - that was 20 years ago and I forget what species, and he never showed me what to pick.

Shame.

I need to spend some time going through the books here, although time is really past for 2020.
 
I have known Jews ears for many a year and cooking them, shredded or not, they hop around the pan more than somewhat. Eaten on their own, they have a very pleasant, subtle taste.
Do they grow on anything but elder? I doubt it.
There was a beauty growing on the ash tree stump in our front garden. I left it be, just so I could show it off to visitors. Since its inevitable demise, the stump's now become populated with a pretty confusing variety of bracket fungus. Fascinating!
 
There was a beauty growing on the ash tree stump in our front garden.

Should have eaten it!!

That said, they are quite something unique in the UK - get them at the right stage, in the right light - quite something when 3 inches and more across, things of very great natural beauty. even if basically brown, in the same way as fly agaric and a few others.

Love some of the bracket fungi for the same reasons - fabulously attractive when at their best, Totally inedible.
 
I once spotted a teeny toad on mushroom or maybe it was a normal-sized toad on a ginormous mushroom. Actually, it was both — the toad was teeny-weeny and the mushroom was ginormous.

41988785395_5eb64c578a_b.jpg


Joe
 
^^^ Fanatstic - thanks for sharing @Joe P

Two of the world's much neglected and overlooked there - you just need a slug on the opposite side of the cap.
 
Apparently if you boil fly agarics in brine twice, the poisons/hallucinogens are removed and they are safe to eat.

Sadly the only mushroom hunter i know who's local has dementia, I'd love to go foraging. I'll have to learn the slow way. I found a forum a while back where you can upload photos and a spore print for identification.

Most mushrooms I spot don't look edible but I know from flicking through books that many edible varieties look like something I wouldn't touch, whereas death caps look pretty normal.
 
Whilst there are vast numbers that are edible the list of one's that are also nice, and reliably identifiable, and likely to be found commonly in the UK, is shorter and pretty well covered by Mull in his post above. Personally I'd add Amanita Rubescens to that list and add that I was sufficiently unimpressed with beefsteak fungus to not want to bother with it again. About the same with Jew's Ear.
The best IMHO are Bay Boletus and normal Cepe, Parasol mushroom, Horse and Field Mushroom (similar), Chanterelle, young Shaggy Ink Cap, Oyster fungi, very young Common Puffball (if it feels hollow or is squirting out spores it's WAY too old. Break or cut apart and flesh needs to be firm and white. innards turn dark grey/black even way before they are ready to "puff" spores. I have a vague recollection of there being a non deadly but could make you sick relation of Common Puffball which Mullardman may know more about), slight aniseed taste IIRC but it was years ago... Also I've known giant puffball to be pretty good, in contrast to Mull's findings.... different "terroir" etc maybe?
 
Apparently if you boil fly agarics in brine twice, the poisons/hallucinogens are removed and they are safe to eat.

Sadly the only mushroom hunter i know who's local has dementia, I'd love to go foraging. I'll have to learn the slow way. I found a forum a while back where you can upload photos and a spore print for identification.

Most mushrooms I spot don't look edible but I know from flicking through books that many edible varieties look like something I wouldn't touch, whereas death caps look pretty normal.

The sometimes vast difference in appearance depending on age and even weather can be a problem and the Amanita's are one of the worst for this.
 
Once down in Hampshire I came across the mother-load of Chanterelles and picked a full carrier bag of them in about 15 mins... had a few, rest soon went off and were binned... If only I'd known what that was worth in the top restaurants!
 
UK -

Poisonous/noxious to eat - very few.

Unfailingly worth eating - very few.

That leaves an AWFUL lot, and a nightmare in identification for most people, including me.
 
Wood ears is a suitable alternative.

As a PC alternative?

If so, please God, give me strength and help me rewrite thousands of years of history and much besides, all to less than no avail whatsoever.

God, please, preserve me from tokenism and those so very shallow as to attach so much to it.

If not your meaning @DimitryZ, my most sincere of apologies.
 
What a wonderful thread! Thank you very much for all the posts!

I felt inspired to look through some sites. I recognised some mushrooms from my Countryside walks.

Also bought back memories; a walk in the woods in Poland. I was being taught how to forage for Mushrooms!

I got some wrong. Only a couple. That's all it takes though. One was a dangerous one; the other one was discounted as we'd be enjoying a couple of beers...

I did spot a few good ones and was rewarded with one of the tastiest Bigos (Huntsmans Stew) I've ever tasted.

Lots of Chanterelles by the way. Recognised them immediately and my mouth is watering as I type! :D
 


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