My-co-lorful characters

I sautéed the last of my charcoal burners with some lobster mushrooms for our supper tonight and after the meal I was requested to go out to the woods and gather some more. The above photo is my basket shortly into the trip.

These are the first mushrooms I noticed upon entering the forest, Pleurotus dryinus  are a rather large member of the Oyster mushroom family.

Pleurotus Dryinus is an unusual Oyster mushroom as it has a very noticeable long fluffy stem.

Above is a close relative of the Reishi mushroom and has a history of being used as an artist canvas of sorts, it also is known as a good medicinal mushroom and since I wrote on it with my thumb nail I will take it home for tea. (Ganoderma applanatum).

Here is a view looking down on the top surface on Ganoderma applanatum, this fungus can measure up to 20 inches across.

Why not show a medicinal Chaga mushroom from this area as well.

A small Bay bolete (Boletus badius) growing on a stumps edge.

Another bolete member, some call it Leccinum subglabripes, others call it Boletus subglabripes, these are a common summer mushroom here.

Never seen or gathered this choice edible before (Lactarius volemus). This is a rare mushroom this far north and I’ll mail a dried specimen to the Provincial museum for their mushroom collection.

These are in the Russula family though Lactarius mushrooms give off a milky latex when you touch their gills which you can notice in the above photo. Lactarius volemus has a shellfish scent and its milk starts out white and stains brown in a short time.

Another new mushroom I never gathered before, this one’s caps are also considered by some to be good eating. (Oudemansiella radicata) I’ll send this one to the museum as well.

Here are some edibles from tonight on the table with numbers under them, click photo for closer look (1) Boletus subglabripes, (2) Suillus granulatus, (3) Boletus badius, (4) Suillus pictus (5) Charcoal burner (6) Lactarius volemus, (7) Chanterelle and (8) Yellowfoot Chanterelle. This night had some colorful surprises. ciao

Charcoal burner, nice to eat you

Started out looking for some new Black Trumpet areas though it quickly became perfectly clear this was the night of the Charcoal burner (Russula cyanoxantha).

Rolling along, the German Association of Mycology’s 1997 mushroom of the year, yes the Charcoal burner is a very popular mushroom in most of Europe and appears in markets there.

Often you will see some like this from a distance and as you approach look for humps under the leaves, usually there will be many small fresh mushrooms around. Slugs and other insects love these mushrooms so you will only be able to gather one good one for every 5 or so you find.

Again you only see one though there are many under the leaves here, walk gently.

Here in Canada very few people are gathering Charcoal burner for food as this one is tricky to identify until you have it verified by a mycologist or expert, which took me 30 plus years to finally have this occur. Once you get your verification then the field characteristics need to be studied to nail things down as the Charcoal burner is quite different from the many other Russulas you are liable to meet up with.  These mushrooms tonight where growing near beech, poplar and eastern white pine trees and there were 3 other russula varieties also here though there was no close look alike.  This large red colored Russula in the center of the Charcoal burners I can’t  identify though you will find 10s of Russula varieties ranging in shades between these 2, so initially you will need expert help.

Some of the characteristics I find helpful to know after verification are the way the cap peels back, texture of the cap, gills do not break to the touch as most other Russulas do, the multi colors, near beech trees, size, center of cap is indented, gills have some forking , faint red under peeled cuticle. In the photo above we see mostly the  Charcoal burner with Banana boletes and a few yellowfoot chanterelles on the left. ciao