Nights are getting cool and we are getting some rain in southern Michigan. I went for a hike and have never seen so many mushrooms. The only one I’m confident enough to eat is the puffball. The orange chanterelles(?) are tempting, as are the corals. Hens and chickens will pop anytime now until mid October.
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I, too, am looking forward to fall mushroom season. It’s been a bit dry here lately so the normal mid-late summer mushrooms haven’t made much of a showing this year. The fall mushrooms I look forward to most are hens, honeys, and purple-gilled laccaria.
That doesn’t look like a chanterelle to me. More likely a type of Lactarius based on the shape and the white droplets coming out from cuts on the gills.
Some coral mushrooms are edible but some are toxic and it can be hard to distinguish between some species so I try not to be tempted by most of them. I have eaten the crown-tipped coral though, since it is relatively easy to tell apart from others and is quite delicious.
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Yah ,
Does not look like chanterelles .
Chanterelles have ridges , not gills.
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Chanterelles and corals are not in my wheelhouse. The corals we found are a ground-sprouting variety and likely inedible or toxic. The orange chanterelle look alike, I haven’t had time to identify. There are only about 8 mushrooms I am comfortable identifying at this point. There were hundreds of boletes out, too, but I am no good with those,
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In case you want to try identifying boletes, here is a really nice identification filter that has helped me a lot. https://boletes.wpamushroomclub.org/
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the upcoming hurricane ought to give Michigan the moisture we need for a great hen of the woods crop in 6 weeks.
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My yard is full of boletes, but not the good kind. They do a magic color change from tan to deep blue. The oxidation only takes 2 or 3 seconds.
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Had a bumper crop of chanterelles here - but they’ve been finished for a month or more.
Was my first time gathering chanterelles… I believe Iike them as well or better than morels - and they’re way easier to find! Had the regular golden/orange ones, but also several several patches of the small blaze-orange cinnabar types.
Found a few indigo milkcaps during the same timeframe, but I didn’t eat any of them… brought them home and ‘planted’ them around the yard, under oak trees.
Rains last week really have the puffballs popping up right now.
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Dang, that looks really good! I’ll have to try that method of cooking them. They are usually too soft and bread-like for my liking, but that way probably crisps them up nicely. Just egg-wash and flour?
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Tried some puffball tofu tonight. Cubed with some soy, garlic and pepper flakes. Crisped up on two sides. Works nicely.
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Just a heads up, chicken of the woods are just starting to appear in southern Michigan. Hens (miatake) should be popping soon. Last year they all started on October 7.
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No mushroom for us this year. None. Zip. No even bad ones. I am not sure what to blame:
- Changing soil chemistry due to pretty bad Gypsy Moth infestation and a lot of their poop(pure nitrogen) on the ground
- Record cold and wet spring
- Very dry and hot summer
We usually have three waves of mushrooms - June, August and October. None this year…
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Also growing now are lions mane and what I believe are Suillus Americana (chicken fat mushroom). I am sure of the tiny lions mane, not sure on the Suillus.
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I’d blame the dry weather. It’s been similar here this summer. If we don’t get enough rain to where the ground stays moist for at least a couple days, then we don’t see many mushrooms. They’ll just wait until it’s wet again or even put off coming up until the next year. Hopefully we’ll see some soon as the fall rains show up.
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Nice finds! I’m jealous of the lions mane, I’ve never seen any. Those definitely do look like chicken fat mushrooms. I’ve eaten them a few times before and often find Dotted-Stalk Suillus at the same time, both under white pines. They’re fairly decent for eating and pretty safe mushrooms to identify and taste. Just don’t pick them if they were already bloomed during a good rain because they will soak up water and get really soggy… not pleasant to cut up or eat! I always peel off the skin from the cap since it can cause digestive issues for some people and they can be pretty slimy.
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I would say it is because of dry weather, but why we missed June wave? Whole spring soil was saturated, not just moist… I bet it kept some moist for June… I am seeing different flora in the woods now - grass is growing tall, that was never the case before. Many trees are dying or dead because of Gypsy Moth.
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sitting on a potential gold mine of HOTW, I found none two saturdays in a row (I checked my favorite spots, oak dominated woods, 30 mins each time). I am guessing it is still too early, and that HOTW needs a cold spell to fruit. this has been a warm summer and warm beginning of fall. more than adequate rains, and in 2016, I found one Nov. 8, election day (it was just over its prime, still quite usable).
what do others think re: fruiting and temp? HOTW has the advantage of me getting one year supply in a couple of hours, if the time is right. I did find lots of other mushrooms, including a giant puffball that must have been prime 20 days ago. Those, at least, come reliably around Sept. 20 (when I was traveling for work).
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