Fall Mushroom Forays
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Does the Design of Mushrooms Show a Divine Sense of Humor?
Okay, I promised I’d share my thoughts about Lycoperdon (Puffball mushrooms). Lycoperdon puffballs sliced and ready to prepare. Each fall we see clusters of these rimming the various trails through the forest areas where we hunt Chanterelles and other delicious shrooms. We’ve harvested them while they’re young (firm and white), but they are a lot of trouble Continue reading
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Have You Ever Had a Hedgehog?
Hedgehogs are a late fall/early winter mushroom that grows in damp, ferny areas, and in my mind it is one of the more savory and simple-to-cook shrooms. I love it as a side dish, or as a breakfast mushroom with scrambled eggs. Continue reading
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Preparing to Partake in the Putting Away of a Plateful of Palatable Puffballs
What do you do with Puffballs? (Other than the boyish delight of stomping on them and watching the little “wolf farts”* spew greenish-brown “smoke” comprised of billions of puffball spores into the air!) Most puffballs are indeed edible. I had never had them before, and this season we saw a goodly number of Lycoperdon* not… Continue reading
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How To Identify False Chanterelles
This time of year there are tons and tons of Chanterelles out there in the forests of Western Washington. And among them, false Chanterelles, hiding like wolves in sheep’s clothing! How can you spot them? Continue reading
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Boletes: The Bacon of the Mushroom World
PJ is a master chef and couldn’t wait for me to let him loose in my kitchen to see what he could do with those Boletes (mostly Admirable Boletes, and also some Slippery Jacks). Continue reading
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Bingo! Bountiful Baskets of Beautiful Boletes!
We were looking for Golden Chanterelles, but what we found were Boletes … bunches of beautiful Boletes! My chef friend was quite excited about this “bacon of the mushroom world.” Continue reading
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Getting out there, part 5: When NOT to hunt!
Sometimes the mushroom hunting can be A LOT better than other times! This was one of those other times. How to tell the difference … ? Continue reading
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Getting Out There, Part 3: How To Hunt
We’ve covered where to hunt and when to hunt … now it’s time to talk about preparing for how to safely forage for exotic edible mushrooms. Continue reading
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Getting Out There, Part 2: When To Hunt
In this post I’d like to address the question of WHEN to hunt. Here in the Northwest, as with most elsewhere, there are two times of the year most fruitful for hunting mushrooms: Spring and Fall. Continue reading
Mushroom Obsession 