That’s beautiful. I’m not really confident with wild oyster identification so I haven’t collected any.
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With mushrooms that you are not too confident with the important thing to know is whether there are badly poisonous lookalikes. For my neck of the woods there is a oyster lookalike but it is bitter.
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there are many books from mushroom specialists out there to show you how to identify them 100%. if you like foraging i suggest you buy one. i have several. its a fun and addicting hobby. we have a park near town here that is used for hiking and snowshoe/ skiing in winter. its about 200 acres. it hasnt been logged in 40 yrs so there’s lots of species of mushroom there. they leave the wood on the sides of the trails that are cut from windfalls. they quickly get colonized with mushrooms. ive found over 30 types ive not found anywhere else.
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Down by Girdwood is the tail end of the Chugach national forest, the northernmost rain forest in North America. The variety of fungi is unreal with hundreds of varieties that are not seen past the boundary of the forest area.
Every year they have the Girdwood fungus fair. The list of identified individual mushroom varieties found there is around 400.
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if im ever up that way in the summer id love to go there.
The fair is in August, the best time of the year to visit Alaska.
Let me know if you plan on visiting. Salmon fishing and gold dredging would be good ways to round up a long weekend.
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went ice fishing up at lake louise 7 years ago with a friend in Wasilla. my son wants to go back in the summer so i may take you up on it. what’s biting in august there?
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Having fried oysters from some rotting logs…plus poke and dock and black mustard and chickory for greens. As I type.
Beans and cornbread too.
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Early August silvers. Renting a boat to fish and cruise Whittier can be worth the whole trip. The mushroom picking in the Chugach Forest is awesome. And gold dredging is great; you would never work so hard for so long for so little.
Heck there are lots of other things to do. I’m sure we can figure something.
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I’d go just to see the masses of Meconopsis in bloom…
Scott
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Possible that that is chicken of the woods but it is well past its prime and I wouldn’t suggest eating it. The circular form is interesting. There are a few other polypore that can have that color/appearance, really hard to tell if it’s an old chicken or something else.
Thanks! The only thing resembles this is Berkeley’s polypore. But Berkeley’s polypore is not that thick. This mushroom is about 3/4” thick. I definitely agree with you that it has passed the prime.
Could it be a black staining polypore?
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It’s not the black staining polypore. There’s no stain on the cap and the cut surface. I still think it’s chicken of woods, just passed its tender and prime stage.
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Now I am pretty certain it’s Berkeley polypore. The mushroom tasted a little bitter and chewy, but with a strong aroma. Personally I like it. The taste somehow reminds me of ginseng.
Growing season has been lousy this year for my garden as its been rainy, cloudy and cooler this year. July has been great for foraging though. I ventured into the forests on my property and discovered several patches of chanterelles which are steadily producing. Found a good 10lb haul of golden oysters a few weeks back too. Lots of blushers and boletes and russalas spotted but I am very new to mushrooms and havent cooked or eaten many of those yet…
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