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Mushroom question

Thread Status: Hello , There was no answer in this thread for more than 60 days.
It can take a long time to get an up-to-date response or contact with relevant users.
Lately a few other mushrooms have been fruiting - hedgehogs,
horns of plenty and yellowfoot chanterelles. Still the golden chanterelles are going crazy.




a nice photo that shows the difference between a horn of plenty and a black chanterelle
 
Hi all, I'm a guernsey boy currently living in wales, the waters too cold brown and un inviting for diving at the moment. I'm mad about foraging and have been following this thread intently, aswell as doing some some research (got the river cottage fungi book for xmas). The Main season for seeking out these tasty little treats appears to be late summer through autumn, so i'm thinking i've missed the boat. Can anyonne suggest 2 or 3 edible fungi that would be suitable (anything which isnt easily confused with something to deadly)for me as a beginner to read up on, and when the season's right have a crack at collecting. Anything tasty and easy to find fruit in spring? Any advice/guidance would be greatly appreciated as im ever curious and hungry, but dont want to end up 6ft under. cheers.
 
You can find edible mushrooms all year around it just that the Autumn produces a glut.
Having said that because of the extreme weather there aint much about just now!
First notable mushrooms coming in the spring - St Georges mushroom named because they appear mid April (St Georges day).
Even earlier - common morel!
Get your self "how to identify edible mushrooms" a Collins production.
 
Spring brings with it a new prize - Morchella!
Morchella elata



Morchella deliciosa - notice the beautiful dusting of late snow that fell the night before.
 
Amazing - that haul would be worth thousands of $ where I live!
 
Amazing. Presumably commercial quantity for resale?
 
I never sell them these days. I feel the rewards of preserving, eating fresh and giving them to people I like far outweigh the money I would get if I sold them.
In my younger hungrier days I sold them and that was good at the time. My best month ever was over 10,000 USD and that was just picking on the weekends. My best day ever was over 3,000 USD - that was for matsutake during the "matsutake rush" that occured in the late 80's early 90's in the Pacific North West.
Now I just dry them (boletes) or preserve them various other ways.

Here is a dry roasting method to cook them. After proper roasting I finish them off with olive oil and whatever else feels appropriate. They freeze excellent this way when vacuum packed.





and here they are dried... so many good future sauces!
 
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Reactions: Mr. X and ADM
I see you live in California. Do you travel as far as the Pacific North West specially to pick?
 
That's just amazing! Looks to be a first rate kitchen too!

I've never gotten into serious shroomage - though I did find a couple of huge white morels on my property this spring.
 
Yum! Interesting insights. Good will goes a long way. It makes our rather meagre fungi look rather sad though. America truly is the land of plenty.
 
I had a quick look in the park today & yep things are happening!
Unfortunately nothing edible today but plenty of Panther caps!
 
sunfish said:
I see you live in California. Do you travel as far as the Pacific North West specially to pick?
Click to expand...


I consider Northwest California to be PNW - I do travel further north, e.g. Oregon and Washington. Good Spearfishing up there as well.

I went out yesterday and picked Red Capped Butter Boletes (Boletus regius) and Spring Kings (Boletus rex-veris). 80 pounds!

 
I'm new to foraging for fungi, and have started patrolling a variety of what I would consider to be likely sites, any tips for newbie such as myself when it comes to searching for new spots (other than advice which I’m going to get out of any book e.g is it safe to collect fungi from urban areas, is it worth collecting fungi in the rain? or will this make them mushy and tasteless? do certain shrooms only grow under shade, on south facing slopes? ect ).

I heeded the advice foxfish gave me and invested in a couple of the Collins books, both edible species, and one with everything in it (really rocks your confidence, the books you can buy geared solely around collecting edible fungi only mention the main species your likely to collect or encounter, giving mention to only a fraction of the other similar or poisonous look a-likes you may encounter.
Sufficed to say I’m collecting fungi and reading up on them, but refuse to eat anything I collect for the time being.

Any advice on -field mushrooms (found a few)
-Bolets- seen a couple (Which are the easiest to identify and safest to eat)
-Parasols (are they a good place to start for a beginner?)
 
Are the majority of bolets edible? or are there a variety of nasties thrown in there aswell? (as you may have guessed the spearfishing and fishing has taken a turn for the worse at the moment....swings and roundabouts)
 
First chanterelles of the year for me today, only a handful, pitiful compared to Ekinoderms, but there's more on the way in this spot. Also found an old patch that was long gone but noted for early next year.
 

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Cool - I had a nice haul of parasols today but I must admit I would of rather have found some chanterelles.
 
After loads of hiking and blank trips I finally managed to find my first decent haul of fungi. Spent most of the day walking around a wood in swansea, covering loads of ground, only to find these in a very small patch under some young oak trees (the entire wood is oak). Spent ages looking for them, and it wasn't until I'd unzipped to answer the call of nature that I realized I was about to urinate on a promising little patch of chantrelles. Got a few hedgehog mushrooms as well (tasty but not as nice as chantrelles). Apart from the small patch where I found the chantrelles the entire wood was devoid of them, any theories on why this might be?

Is it a case of conditions in that patch being perfect and the rest of the wood being less suitable?

or is it just a case of it maybe being early/late in the season and the rest of the wood having already/not fruited yet?

There hasn't been much rainfall recently up until this week, which could be the cause.

When do the chantrelles generally stop popping up?
Any advice about harvesting? e.g is it better for the fungus if you cut the stem before picking, or if you just pull the whole fruiting body out?
 

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Nice haul mate.

I was always told it's better to cut them at the base as you don't harm the mycelium undergound as you can do if you pull the whole thing up.

No idea about the rest of it though, but I would say it may be a good idea to go back in a few weeks as they may pop up elsewhere nearby not just in that patch. Patches only metres apart can sprout weeks apart.
 
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