Winecaps are out.
These are some of my smaller ones. The giant ones I accidentally damaged while harvesting.
Winecaps are out.
These are some of my smaller ones. The giant ones I accidentally damaged while harvesting.
My garden is filled with mushrooms, probably none edible. I have been kicking these clumps around, now they are popping all over the garden. A couple other different kinds, smaller clumps.
Found this article on one of the blogs I follow:
All week I was excited to go on my wild mushroom hunt, and finally, the day had come that I met with Lex. Over a cup of tea, she explained how she and her husband Andy had started in the wild mushroom business. After having travelled the world, Lex and Andy decided to settle in France for a while. And not just anywhere, but in the middle of a beautiful forest called the Montagne Noire. The locale knew this very remote site as the âcoin des champignonsâ, or the wild mushroom spot. And thatâs how Lex and Andy started their Love la ForĂȘt firm by foraging cĂšpes, drying them and then selling them. After 13 years of forest life and two kids later, Lex and Andy decided to sell their paradise and move to the village of Caunes-Minervois. From here, they run their business.
Lex took me in her four-wheel-drive into the black mountain area. Of course, I wonât tell you exactly where we went (well, even if I wanted, I couldnât tell as I wouldnât have a clue). Lex filled up her roughly woven basket with fern leaves so that the mushrooms wouldnât fall out, and off we went into the dense woods. Keep in mind that it can be dangerous to foray wild mushrooms yourself, as they can be poisonous. Lex has two rules: only pick the mushrooms without gills and avoid the white ones. You can have them checked by pharmacists, however Lex mostly learned from the local mushroom hunters. Lex and I split up, foraging the wood, and soon enough Lex found the first cĂšpe. It was impossible for me to distinguish them from the fall leaves until suddenly, I spotted two huge ones!
Overly excited we continued our way, filling up the basket with all kinds of varieties. I was lucky, as Lex pointed out many different ones, like fly agaric, girolles (chanterelles), coral mushroom, amethyst deceiver, and many more. A whole new world opened up for me! After a couple of hours of foraging and getting lost (meâŠ), Lex wanted to check one more spot to see if there were trompettes de la mort. Despite their name, âtrumpets of deathâ, you can actually eat them. And to her, and mine, delight, she found quite a few of them, hidden under the carpet of fall foliage. Lex told me that it took her about five years to find this spot. One day, she went on a ramble with friends when she suddenly spotted the little black, shrivelled trumpet-like mushrooms. Her screams of excitement slightly frightened her friends, but Lex was over the moon.
Initially, Lex and Andy started with selling dried mushrooms. However, always looking for new ideas, they discovered a way to make wild mushroom powders and salts. And this will add magic to your dishes, bedazzling them with a great umami taste. Well past noon, we headed back to the car with a basket full of the most beautiful wild mushrooms I had ever seen. Back home, Andy had made a bowl full of wild mushroom flavoured popcorn. Yep, thatâs right, one of Love la ForĂȘtâs creations is this moreish recipe. I tried to be polite and only have a handful of popcorn, but soon enough I couldnât hold myself back and dived in again, and again⊠Lex and Andy had seen this behaviour before on the many food markets they host when selling their products, where 98% of the people that try their popcorn absolutely love it!
@aap The second picture could possibly be honey mushrooms (Armillaria) which are edible. The first picture could be the same just a little past prime. If you end up trying to eat them, make sure you are 110% sure on the identification.
That would be the hard part. My niece best friend, living close by her has a field of Morels. She told that this coming spring she would get me spores. I have not seen that many mushrooms in my garden as this fall. Last fall I had burn a lot of yard waste/leaves, maybe. Donât know nothing about mushrooms. Have to sure 200% before I eat one.
Honey mushrooms are a pretty easy beginner one, fairly safe once you know the characteristics to look for.
Mushrooming certainly takes time and knowledge but the fact that you were interested enough to take a picture of them is a good first step. You certainly donât want to go around eating things you donât know but also donât be terrified of horror stories of someone eating a deadly mushroom. Morels, chanterelles, chicken and hen of the woods, and honeys are all ones to keep an eye out for next yr. I would say those are all beginner level - easy to id with few lookalikes. Once you are comfortable with those you can then branch out to include some others
I found some winter oysters this morning, they were frozen solid to the tree:
This is a good video about common winter mushrooms: https://youtu.be/venkcVGX36Y
Ohhhh!! I wanna call you Lucky Sparty now
Beautiful!!
Nice, I would love to grow mushrooms but have to much to do now. Since Iâve bought this home in 2020 everything is new to me and I have to spend so much time learning everything, being a greenhorn sucks. Still waiting for a sure way to grow Morels since I grew up eating them in Indiana.
The chanterelle mushrooms are back itâs been so hot and weâve had a drought didnât think we were going to get any.
all kinds coming up in my woodchip mulch. thought my wine caps from 5 yrs ago were done nbut got quite a few still coming up. should see big flushes of wild ones in the woods soon.
Anyone successfully renew a wine cap bed or does it just burn itself out eventually (I already do add new fresh chips).
Scott
it does but 5yrs later im still getting some but i put fresh chips every spring. i may do elm oysters next time for variety. id start a renewing bed 4 yrs out.
A dayâs worth of king boletes air drying before a spin cycle on the dehydrator.
So far I have almost filled 2 five gallon buckets of dehydrated kings. That should last me the year.
what do you use them in Don? i use mine in stir frys and sauteed in garlic/ butter as a side. we have many types of boletes here but none as good as the kings.
Lots of mushrooms after 4 rainy weeksâŠbut too many I coulnât positively ID.
So, I only ate one.