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cooking More Mushrooms!!

To me the Amanitas are the most unique & beautiful of the Mushrooms, However just the fact that Amanita Caesarea is eaten in Europe & found
to be toxic here in the US makes me take caution with Amanitas. Amanita Muscara is the red/ orange top with white pieces of the egg sack spotting the red surface, the classic mushroom in story tales.

We just taught our Son " No Eata Amanita" They have the most unique structures & spore colors I read somewhere that the Amanitas were high up in the Mushroom world. Even when you find Small puff balls they can be the egg form of the Amanita, so slice from top to bottom & you will see the unopened Amanita ready to hatch.

 
To me the Amanitas are the most unique & beautiful of the Mushrooms, However just the fact that Amanita Caesarea is eaten in Europe & found
to be toxic here in the US makes me take caution with Amanitas. Amanita Muscara is the red/ orange top with white pieces of the egg sack spotting the red surface, the classic mushroom in story tales.

We just taught our Son " No Eata Amanita" They have the most unique structures & spore colors I read somewhere that the Amanitas were high up in the Mushroom world. Even when you find Small puff balls they can be the egg form of the Amanita, so slice from top to bottom & you will see the unopened Amanita ready to hatch.


I haven't really strayed into the more controversial 'edible' fungi much yet. Honeys are pretty dangerous, I guess, but it seems like I rarely find Armillaria and Galerina in fruit at the same time around here.. And I'm pretty confident on separating them.
Boletes, Corts, and a lot of the Brownies I pretty much leave alone. I see gobs of bicolors or the other similar one every year but I've yet to try them.. I know of some Edulis too, but just not there yet.

One of my favorites that no one else seems to pick are the Laccaria laccata and amethystina.. Some of the best soup/stew mushrooms I know of, if you like the chewy texture they bring. We are kind of a divided house on them, but they never seem to make it to the jerky station.. Much as I'd like to try it. They dry and rehydrate like champs too! Really hope to get a productive strain of them going in pots soon. I'd also love to make a space to do clean culture work, so I'm baby stepping my way there. All the Mycological resources in this state are either on the West or South side of it.. Very little in the way of it here, or I'd probably be a lot more invested in it.

Ever cook with Suillius? I gathered and dried some a couple times, but have yet to try and use them.
 
I haven't really strayed into the more controversial 'edible' fungi much yet. Honeys are pretty dangerous, I guess, but it seems like I rarely find Armillaria and Galerina in fruit at the same time around here.

Can you elaborate? Do you mean because of misidentifying,or Honeys are actually dangerous? I wouldn't eat them if I was starving,but see thousands of them and was under the impression they were choice? I don't know anything about shrooms but find them interesting and may spend a bit of time educating myself in the future.
 

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Can you elaborate? Do you mean because of misidentifying,or Honeys are actually dangerous? I wouldn't eat them if I was starving,but see thousands of them and was under the impression they were choice? I don't know anything about shrooms but find them interesting and may spend a bit of time educating myself in the future.

Both.. To a degree. Galerina have been reputed to pop up right in the middle of a cluster of Armillaria, so sloppy identification could easily get you killed. And I wouldn't recommend them for someone starting out, but I would say they are fairly easily to identify and discern.. With a little experience. Then, even when you have the Armillaria, you need to boil them and rinse them with more hot water to cook them and help remove the slime coating from them (and often grubs/worm/cats).. Or at least that's been my faith. The stems are an exception to that rule and can be cooked up without the boil for lack of slime.. But still need a good cooking. We've taken and made something really similar in texture to pulled chicken or pork with the stems of Honeys.. But I haven't scored enough at one time to make it again. Someday.

Here's a few A. gallica I tried to print but the critters ate the prints. These actually looked pretty clean.. At a glance. Some mushroom species are rare to find infested. Our fish eat good on nights we boil these.
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Even after all that cooking, people will then fry, bake, or other things with them.. And some people still get sick from them. Though I know more people who won't eat the Sulphur Shelf you have in that second picture.. Another that you need to cook very well. Some say not to eat them off Evergreens(which I haven't). They are both choice in my book, along with that Grifola frondosa you have in the first picture.

I'll admit, I got a little sick this year from a really juicy, young Sulphur chicken.. But we had already eaten it twice in like a week or so, and I ate enough for 3. The White Chicken is superior in flavor.. But only grows from the base, and seems to be far more rare around here. We cook all the mushrooms we eat now, on the advice of a few people of wisdom on the subject, so I've lost some of the dimensions I used to know with them. Even then, with any mushroom, there is always the chance you could be allergic, so it's best to only try a little bit the first time and give it a day or so to see if it upsets you. A lot of people don't enjoy the button mushrooms and never give the other ones a chance.. It's like a whole new world of meat in the kitchen. So many textures and flavors.

It does pay to learn the ones that accumulate toxins like heavy metals.. Especially ones like Morels that thrive in toxic environments, like along railways. I stopped buying them from anywhere, after I learned about that. Just like plants, fungi can be great indicators, as well as engineers on a number of levels.

I'm pretty new to it still too, but I started off with the stuff that was pretty hard to mistake and likely wouldn't be fatal if I did. That Chicken you have there looks pretty similar to the first chance I took on woodfruit.. With how different that meal was to anything 'mushroom' I had ever known really sealed it for me. I really didn't start out learning about them for food, but they play a major role in my diet now.

I have a great recipe for jerking that Grifola, but they are awesome cooked anyway you would cook steak, or other mushrooms. We love taking them and cutting small strips, along with onions and peppers, skillet with butter.. Seared and crisped.. On about anything. :drooling:
 
I have not tried it with Mudrooms yet with Google lens. I am amazed at how well it got many peppers.
This still sounds crazy to a 70 year old, but just take your Telephone & take a pic then give it to google lens.
I guess it's AI the thing that can spell some things looks at the pic then runs it through a data base.

We always hump our Mushroom books with us on our hikes. So what's a small battery operated device you have in your pocket
but a mushroom hand book. https://www.mushroomenthusiast.com/beginners-guide-to-mushroom-hunting/
 
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@CraftyFox Shame you are having troubles finding honey's. I could have easily filled a 55 gallon drum with them. For years I have tried to identify every tree and plant around here. I am pretty thorough and the popular mushrooms popping now are really easy. I can see how someone could get in trouble but the Armillaria species here are pretty basic.

I guess it's good that I think they taste like crap. I won't be getting poisoned anytime soon.Out of curiosity though, I did grill some of the Laetiporus and will admit they are pretty special.

Interesting that you mentioned to avoid eating them off of conifers. That is something I have heard people talking about. Is this an old wives tail passed down? Seems as though the species in the PNW grow on them and people eat them? I really know nothing about these but they interest me. I see so many crazy ones while hiking our hemlock forests. I
 
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@CraftyFox Shame you are having troubles finding honey's. I could have easily filled a 55 gallon drum with them. For years I have tried to identify every tree and plant around here. I am pretty thorough and the popular mushrooms popping now are really easy. I can see how someone could get in trouble but the Armillaria species here are pretty basic.

I guess it's good that I think they taste like crap. I won't be getting poisoned anytime soon.Out of curiosity though, I did grill some of the Laetiporus and will admit they are pretty special.

Interesting that you mentioned to avoid eating them off of conifers. That is something I have heard people talking about. Is this an old wives tail passed down? Seems as though the species in the PNW grow on them and people eat them? I really know nothing about these but they interest me. I see so many crazy ones while hiking our hemlock forests. I

If only I had 2 bodies and 3 kitchens! I haven't even had time to collect more mushrooms, trying to finish off all this Maitake. I feel blessed having these instead of dealing with the work of processing honeys, when and if I get to choose. That said, I've been really surprised at some of the trades I've been gifted for throwing some fresh, choice wild fungi to those who appreciate them.. When I had an abundance.

Regarding the conifer versions of Laetiporus, I've heard a lot of different things.. If I encountered them more, I'd probably explore it, tbt. I study so many different subjects it's hard to keep up, especially when there are two camps of thought on an issue.. And science is uncovering new truths. The two that I've encountered were pinkish and interesting looking. I wouldn't be surprised if it was more myth than fact, very similar to the way Blackberry Nightshade are treated. I was getting ready to add Dead Man's Fingers to our list of ones we've tried and then came across an article that changed my mind. I generally try to the err on the side of caution, with wild foods as a whole.. It's a shame we have to constantly sift thru propaganda and half-truths to extract the truth of these things, when it's even possible. I have more than a few 'open files'.. If you ken.

I think most plants and mushrooms are pretty easy, once you are familiar with them. Until I really 'knew' Galerina, I would print every cap I collect of Armillaria.. It hard to really know the differences until I have chance to examine individual specimens first hand. There are definitely some interesting mushrooms under evergreens too, those white whatchamacallits are coming into season now, forget the name.. Matsutake maybe? I'm fairly lacking in fungal knowledge for Evergreen webs though.
 
With all my mushrooms taken care of, the family talked me into a walk in the woods yesterday..
So much for not finding a bunch of Honeys. Three days of cold and wet and they are everywhere. It's funny how the different species will flip-flop in occurrence from year to year. Usually I find the big flushing of Hens to occur after Honeys, this year it was quite the opposite. We didn't even park and we were already seeing them.. Plenty of Entoloma too.
Some of them were trying to hide, but most of them were all about showing off..

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I love finding them like this.. Or Grade AAA/AA on the market.. If I recall right.
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So many out there we were able to be picky, leave lots, and keep 3 of us busy in the kitchen the majority of the evening.
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Here's how you get the 'shreds' without having to boil slime off.. Just like crab legs. I crack them in half and tear out the guts. It doesn't add up real fast, but they are so good! Still need a good cooking. I forgot to get a picture of the end result.. Maybe today.



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Time to do some boiling.. We give them a solid 20 minutes of rolling boil and then rinse them with almost simmering water.

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Have to already have the Marinade ready, because they are supposed to go in hot.. PexPeppers is helping tonight! InstaPot knows what time it is!

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e Now the trays should be dry, so back to work. 1 hour in the woods=8 in the kitchen.. Not complaining!
 
Nice haul @CraftyFox, I should be able to collect some myself in a very near futur! We just need a bit of rain around here as it is dry AF. Daytime temps are reaching 30C since a few days and open fires are forbidden, quite early in the season...
 
Nice haul @CraftyFox, I should be able to collect some myself in a very near futur! We just need a bit of rain around here as it is dry AF. Daytime temps are reaching 30C since a few days and open fires are forbidden, quite early in the season...
I've seen that! They've been warning about fire dangers here too, but it doesn't stop people from continuing to throw cig butts out the window of their carriages.. Seems some people just aren't happy without a fire blazing.

I'll be going back out tomorrow, just been dodging the solar storm the last couple days.. I'm really hoping they are still soft, as hot spells tend to harden them right up. I'm sure this is having a negative impact on the Morel season too, but I haven't seen any to gauge them. We've been getting some heavy storms, but they seem to just barely catch us, or blow just north of here.

Hope you have some good hunts soon!
 
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I've seen that! They've been warning about fire dangers here too, but it doesn't stop people from continuing to throw cig butts out the window of their carriages.. Seems some people just aren't happy without a fire blazing.

I'll be going back out tomorrow, just been dodging the solar storm the last couple days.. I'm really hoping they are still soft, as hot spells tend to harden them right up. I'm sure this is having a negative impact on the Morel season too, but I haven't seen any to gauge them. We've been getting some heavy storms, but they seem to just barely catch us, or blow just north of here.

Hope you have some good hunts soon!
Man, tell me about it; we had a bush fire about 1 km away from my house on Tuesday. No grass or forest patch near my house so there was no danger for me (some sheds caught fire howerver) but the fire was so hot it burned the optic fiber cable, resulting in an electricity + internet outage...
 
I wonder if you cook (boil) the shrooms first if the jerky will have a better texture.
 
Unlike meat where it toughens as you cook, veggies get softer. I figured that out with veggie burgers. You can cook them longer and they are softer unlike a beef burger. So wondering if you cook the shroom then dehydrate if that will make for a more tender jerky.
 
I wonder if you cook (boil) the shrooms first if the jerky will have a better texture.
These were just dried, for powdering.. The texture of the jerky (Maitake) I gave you can be adjusted by moisture content. I tend to overdry as a rule, but they can be remoistened by sticking them in a container with a wet towel draped over the top(or similar methods). Turning these into jerky is something I haven't quite got mastered, as they tend to overdry and become crispy. Some people like to just crisp them up and use them as vegan alternative to bacon bits. My youngest was trying to get me to jerk some of these, I just didn't feel like boiling and all that.

As a rule, I boil all the mushrooms I jerk to ensure they are cooked. Yet, like I think we've discussed before, I haven't actually experimented much with boiling them in the jerk sauce.. Like you previously recommended. Not sure how much difference that would make in the end product as most of the issues you've had with the texture of mine are a result of the (often over) drying I do.

And while what you say is true, with some mushrooms, others actually get more firm with cooking.. Not less. Armillaria and Maitake are two that come to mind. I'm sure it depends on HOW you cook them too. Some mushrooms start out hard, stringy, or woody, and pretty much stay that way.. I love Laccaria for that stringy, chewy nature they have that can't be diminished in soup or stirfry, regardless of how long I've cooked them.
 
They were tasty but I was expecting the texture of a dehydrated apple slice. Some of them were so crispy it was like sheets of glass.
 
They were tasty but I was expecting the texture of a dehydrated apple slice. Some of them were so crispy it was like sheets of glass.

At the appropriate moisture content, they should be a little chewier than apple.. More like beef, for lack of a better reference that comes to mind, outside of fungus. I use them mainly in cooking, so they get rehydrated quite a bit in the process. I guess you can see why I don't put moisture packets in them now. I used to keep them more moist, but have since developed a more healthy paranoia in food saving.. I'm sorry you had a bad experience with them. ☹️
 
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