Not very Poultry mushrooms

This is no chicken little. This is the east coast conifer version of (Chicken of the woods) Laetiporos huroniensis which I happen to notice on a big old eastern hemlock around a 100 feet up a steep bank on trail 2 at the foray.

(Ma i take) a step back now to – who came first the chicken or the hen – and the truth is  on the way down to the 2013 N.S. Mycological Society Foray I decided to take a short detour over to a side road in Hants Co. N.S. to see if the red oak that gave me 3 nice (hen of woods) after last year’s Foray was going to be generous again. There wasn’t 3 this time though 1 huge Hen of the woods (Grifola frondosa) was all my basket could handle.

Check out the info and especially the story at the bottom of this mushroom–collecting.com/mushroommaitake.

Now back to this conifer chicken of the woods Laetiporos huroniensis, it is considered by a few people a good edible though 10% or more of the population may experience some GI problems after eating this one.  That is a high percentage so it seems good advise to only gather chicken of the woods of hardwoods which will make your mushroom either Laetiporus sulphurous or Laetiporus cincinnatus in New England and Eastern Canada at least, there are a few other varieties out west which seem to be studied a little more than our east coasters. Well time to fly the coop. ciao

It’s mine 1left

Preparing some things for the N.S Mycological Society foray which starts tomorrow night and I though I should take a break to show you a couple more fall wild mushrooms I noticed today.  Above we see a large Cortinarius caperatus (Gypsy mushroom) and what I thought at first was an earthworm until I seen its eyes. I sent the photo to Nelson Poirier in Moncton and he ID’ed the little one as a Red back salamander.

Here is another choice fall edible mushroom just starting to make an appearance for this year, (Bear’s head tooth) Hericium americanum. I won’t be posting anything for a while, have a pleasant weekend. ciao

Hemlock Reishi

Wow, Ganoderma tsugae is a beautiful mushroom to see while walking out in the woods during the fall season.

Many folks are familiar with the famous medicinal mushroom Ganoderma  lucidum which grows a little more south then the Maritime provinces of Canada.

One last look. ciao

Enough Hedgehogery

Yah, I’ve been bombarding you with these Hydnum repandum lately though this will be the last post this year on this choice edible mushroom.

A good look at the teeth on the underside of the cap.

Some more large half pounders.

These mushrooms are great fresh and also make a nice powdered mushroom once dried. ciao

White Matsutake Has Spoken

You walked an over grown path 2 decades ago to discover the wonders of this forest. You have returned every September since, early on you gathered the Hollow-stem Suillus as you could not identify the many white and deeply buried mushrooms of these woods.

Many years passed when you read of the Matsutake the much loved and historical mushroom of Japan, could these beautiful mushrooms half way around the world be the same mushroom or a distant relative?

Though you sampled this mushroom and marvelled at their smoky spiciness it still wasn’t enough to say these were the White Matsutake until finally an expert 14 years later verified what you had suspected.

Things naturally change as today you notice the markers on some of the trees. They will soon be cutting some of the old spruce, pine and hemlock. Reflect at the shrine and do your part to promote leaving some of the wild and wondrous areas as they are. Those who can purchase such places to protect them from some of the more negative unnecessary changes please step forward.

Hydnum repandum

Found some glowing good Hedgehog mushrooms today. Here is a look at a half pounder.

View of the spiny teeth on the underside of the cap.

The cap has lots of splitting which gives it a certain character.

Here is what I mean by glowing good as they really stand out from a far away distance.

Some Hedgehog mushrooms in the basket.

There are actually a few different looking hedgehogs out in these woods today. The large red-brown capped (Hydnum repandnum) at the back, the most common in this area (Hydnum repandum var alba) with the light tan cap in the middle and last and what seems least, up front all alone, one tiny (Hydnum umbilicatum). All 3 of these Hedgehogs though are choice edibles. ciao

Basketing Boletus

This young button mushroom appears to be a King Bolete, Boletus edulis.

There are lots of King Boletes under these Norway Spruce in this area though there are a few other boletes here which are close relatives and quite choice edibles.

The one in the center could be possibly Boletus reticulatus as it is known to appear around 400 miles south of here.

Here is another one with a nice cracked cap. If this is Boletus reticulatus it also goes by the common name of the Summer King Bolete which would be fitting on the last day of summer.

Another young King Bolete.

The also good to eat King’s snitch, Clitopilus prunulus, also known as the Miller and Sweetbread mushroom. Where Clitopilus prunulus appears the King Bolete will often soon arrive in the same area.

Here we see the basket looks pretty fine with these Boletus on board. If you seen a man balancing a large basket of something on the top of his head while walking along the edge of a forest in N.B. Canada yesterday morning, you now know who it was. ciao

Spruce Bolete

Leccinum piceinum are starting to arise along with the white matsutakes which I showed earlier tonight.

This gotta be the easiest of red capped Leccinums to identify since it only grows under conifers and usually in thick moss.

It also has some loose cuticle material hanging from the cap margin which aids in identifying this one, though there are other red capped Leccinums with similar loose hanging cap edges though they will be growing near birch or poplar trees.

Spruce Bolete is considered a good edible if you only eat the caps and cook them thoroughly , it also drys well which makes it more flavourful.

White Matsutake grounds

Yes it’s that time of the year, time to check my favorite White Matsutake grounds. I noticed some newly emerging Suillus cavipes as I started onto the path which made me suspect I was a little to early especially since it was dry this week, but there they were a few nice smaller Matsutakes and at least one group of the larger ones.

Most of the mushrooms were in needle duff very close to conifer tree  trunks.

Here is the above mushroom lifted from the duff, they were more difficult to remove intact today due to the dryness.

Another one deep in the duff.

This one’s stem is thicker and still it needed lots of wiggling to lift it without snapping the stem.

Large mushrooms with wetter caps and stems in moss.

This was a nice start to the White Matsutake season in my area. I’m going to do a couple small post on some other mushroom I found in these woods as well tonight as they were at their best. ciao

Look up Chaga

Looking ahead this may be the Chaga mushroom I collect in 2015 if things go well, the tree is still sturdy and producing plenty of leaves.

Now for today my Chaga supply is low and the Chaga mushroom on the right side of this tree looks big enough to supply me with tea for a year or so.

Chaga close up.

Here is part of what I’m talking about when I say — look up Chaga. You want to select a birch tree which is still healthy and able to produce leaves so here we are beneath the Chaga horn looking up the birch trunk in search for branches with leaves which are nicely in place on this tree.

One of the easiest way to remove your Chaga from the birch tree is with a hatch, I have an oldie here from the 1950s.

The best time to slice your freshly gathered Chaga is shortly after you bring it home, a heavy duty knife will glide through the Chaga much easier at this point then in a few days.

Some of the pieces in this one are quite marbled.

Here is a Chaga mushroom video I recommend for you by Arthur Haines, check it out. ciao  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=liMo7Q_U-YA