Maritime Lobster Mushrooms

Lobster Mushrooms are out in good numbers in the Maritimes now, so check out my catch of the day.

This one is rather smooth with not much sign of gill ridges.

I find most of my Lobster Mushroom usually near mature Eastern White Pine and an area with mixed woods with large Poplar trees can be prime spots to have a look also.

These 3 photos show the weight divisions Lobster Mushrooms often fall into with the 1st photo 1/4 lb, 2nd 1/2 lb and last one weighed 1lb.

The closest Lobster Mushrooms appears slightly over mature but look around as often there will be plenty of good ones near by, the white powder visible on the gill surface is not mold it is actually spores so this is not a sign the mushroom is not still good to eat. Two things to check concerning whether a Lobster Mushroom is still in good shape for eating is a light to slightly darker orange color, nothing in the red to purple range and when you squeeze the stem at ground level it is very firm. If there are soft spots or brown colored areas somewhere on the mushroom above the firm stem just cut them out and you should still have plenty of choice mushroom left.

Here is what was in a 25 foot area of the above photo.

Back home with a basketful of goodies which will soon be processed into a yummy Lobster Mushroom marinate thanks to Hank Shaw’s website honest-food.net › 2016 › July › 18

Ciao

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August Maritime Mushrooms

Here I am going into a Chanterelle patch.

Exiting the Chanty patch I turn around to see lots of orange untouched mushrooms on the ground where I’ve passed. Gently tip toeing through and reaching out is important to disturb the moss as little as possible, also leave plenty of mature and small mushrooms. This will benefit you for decades down the road as long as the forest isn’t harvested.

Next a nice Lobster Mushroom.

For adventurist Maritime mycophile there seems to be lots of Albatrellopsis confluens out in forest today. In Europe this mushroom is eaten but rated far lower than its common look alike Sheep Polypore. Some folks in Colorado on the other hand claim Albatrellopsis confluens is better than Sheep Polypore as an edible. I find Sheep Polypore is hard to beat though I’m going to give this A confluens another chance to sway me over.

If you are interested in trying this sometimes common Maritime mushroom you must only sample a few bites the first time which is recommended for any new wild food and make sure you thinly slice and cook at medium heat for over 10 minutes.  The mushroom should turn pinkish while cooking, if it turns lemon yellow it will be a Sheep Polypore. Click on the 2nd photo to notice the smooth pore surface with tiny pin holes, this mushroom often bruises pink or light orange when handled. These are large mushrooms you will notice from afar.

August shades of the colourful Russula mushrooms, these ones shown here are from mixed and conifer forest as I passed through both on my mile or so of foraging today. I won’t get into the edibility of the Russula mushrooms I’ve shown you here as I can’t even identify some of them, there are over a 100 different reddish Russula along so you can understand my dilemma, nevertheless Russula mushroom as a rule are one of the safer edible groups though there are a few very hot tasting ones you do not want chew on and a few which bruise black which people have had short term stomach issues with, of course seeing these lovely life forms is every bit as pleasant as the food some of them safely provide, with that in mind I hope you’re enjoying all the colors of your local August forest where ever you are. ciao

Marinated Lobster mushrooms

My computer is on the blink it seems so here is my first attempt at a phone post, interested see how it will pan out. Above you see some Lobster mushrooms I’m salting which is one of the first steps in this Italian mushroom marinate recipe from ( honest-food.net — 17) check it out, I’ve tried this recipe with Russula mustelina and Lobster mushrooms last month and they both turned out great.

It is surprising more folks are not gathering Lobster mushrooms here on the east coast as they are quite common, usually in clusters of 3 to 5 mushrooms. You do seem to lose  some of the mushroom during cleaning as they have soil embedded in them though from this cluster after paring off what I didn’t want I still walked away with 2 lbs of choice wild mushrooms which I would usually dry and eat a small amount fresh though now I really like this mushroom pickled or in this recipe mentioned above from Hunter Anglar Gardener Cook where you salt, boil in vinegar, dry (which I’m going to check my dryer in a minute) then jar up and cover with spiced olive oil. Well I better go get’em.  Ciao

Appearing today

The Grayling, Cantharellula umbonata

Amethyst Deceiver, Laccaria amethystine

Swollen Stalk Cat, Cathelasma ventricosum

King Bolete, Boletus edulis

Lobster mushrooms, Hypomyces lactifluorum     It is amazing how we feel familiar with what is never the same. ciao

A moving day under the trees

Hoping to gather some King Bolete mushrooms today under Norway Spruce, but this one was the only one I found in good shape so it was time to move on and go with the flow which was to gather a few different edibles and marvel at the shapes and colors of some of the other mushrooms which go unmentioned usually in my post.

First stop was in an eastern white cedar forest which is a place I can’t recall visiting at this time of year so I don’t know what to expect,  the orange of Lactarius thyinos is the first mushroom which catches my eye.

Eastern white cedar again and I have no idea what mushroom this is though its stem is interesting, a wild guess would be something from the Hebeloma family. I’ll dry these and send them away for identification.

 

Last photo from under eastern white cedar and again I’m stumped as this is again a mushroom I’m unfamiliar with though it probably is a Sarcodon member judging by the teeth under the cap. I think I’ll leave here now as I’m starting to notice how little I know.

Here I am again in a forest I often visit and the mushroom of the day in large numbers was the Gypsy mushroom in this mixed woods of beech, birch and hemlock.

Favouring the beech and birch were these Hedgehog mushrooms.

A Lobster mushroom along the path surrounded by young birch.

Oh this is actually something I was expecting to run into one day and here it is Laccaria ochropurpurea, lovely colors just a few footsteps from the Lobster mushroom above so we are still under young birch on a overgrown pathway.

Last photo of the day before reaching the car, growing around an old beech stump with its yellow spots on cap is Xanthoconium affine var maculosus aka the spotted bolete. ciao

Coloring the Maritime forest

Let us start with the Blusher (Amanita amerirubescens), I’m not pushing this mushroom as an edible though, it is in the post like all the other photos today for looks only.

Hydnellum peckii is quite a sight as it gradually dyes itself from white to reddish.

First Lobster mushrooms I’ve seen this summer, they did a nice job taking over these once white Russula mushrooms

Here is a series of 5 photos of Leccinum aurantiacum, the last 3 of the cut stem as it moves from white, pink, purple and black in just a few minutes after slicing.

The mighty tiny Laccaria amethystina plentiful in moss right now.

Watermelon berry, I wasn’t expecting to see this plant today and this was the only one in the area I noticed.

American Fly Honeysuckle looking good.

Well that’s it for now. ciao

Foray it’s Friday

Starting on the evening of Friday the 27th of September 2013 and ending around noon on Sunday the 29th the Nova Scotia Mycological Society will be holding their annual wild mushroom foray near Berwick NS. Here is the address if you would like more info www.nsmushrooms.org/forays/2013               Judging by soil maps and the forest types in the foray’s surrounding areas this should provide the society with quite a few new species to add to their already impressive list of species in N.S.   Check out their site, you’ll be pleasantly surprised with what you will see there, they offer a great deal and a good opportunity to enjoy and learn on the trails and back at the Identifying tables at the campsite. (Photo above) Dyer’s polypore, Phaeolus schweinitzii

I did a little (Foray it’s Friday) myself tonight and here are some photos, you’ll see lots of mushrooms similar to these at the NS foray plus many more. One of the first mushrooms I seen on my walk this evening were these Lobster mushrooms.

This one weighed around 12 ozs

I walked for an hour through these woods and here are just a few of the ones I photographed in order as I found them, here we see some Pear-shaped Puffballs.

Next a stranger to me, looks like a very dark capped Amanita, but with  all wild mushroom and especially the Amanitas you are best to not guess. I may dry these to sent away for identification.

You will need to click on to enlarge this photo, the white mushrooms far off in the distance are the very common Destroying Angel which is another member of the Amanita family which host many of the Maritime provinces most poisonous mushrooms.

This is one of our most common early fall mushrooms, Cortinarius Armillatus which isn’t very tasty and mistaken identity in the Cort family can be a life threatening experience. This mushroom known as the Bracelet Cort is best left off your edible list.

More Lobster mushrooms.

Here is a large coral mushroom, this may be or may not be a variety of Ramaria flava, I’ll dry and send some of this mushroom away for identification.

Forays are not all about mushrooms, I found this birch tree quite frilling as well.

Here I see a tree with what appears to be plenty of Chaga mushroom on it about 300 feet away with my car visible a 1,000 feet away in the light green area noticeable near the bottom of the tree trunks. You’ll need to click on this to see anything on this one.

So the tree did actually have some Chaga on it but only a very small horn so now I’m heading towards the car and see this very large bright capped mushrooms growing on this downed log, don’t know this one, I touched the underside of the cap and my hand was quickly stained with a reddish-brown watery powder, interesting stuff out here.

Around 400 feet from the car and now I find a nice surprise edibility wise.

Sweet Tooth or AKA  Hedgehog mushrooms these are the largest ones I gathered this year. As far as wild edible mushrooms go I did very well ending up with around 5 lbs of Lobster and Hedgehog mushrooms.

Across the street from my car here are a few lbs of Lobster mushrooms and these are the ones you should not gather for food. For every pound of wild mushrooms I gather for food or medicinal use I walk by double that number of pounds of the same species due to them being in areas where they may accumulate toxins. The wild mushrooms you can see from your car while driving are great for indicating a mushroom is available in that area but again leave them there to spread spores and indicate good gathering grounds.

If you have hung around to make it to the end of my Friday night foray, thanks for the company and maybe we will meet again at the NS Mycological Society’s foray in a few weeks. ciao

Wild Summer Mushrooms

After some mid-week rain I was quite confident there would be a few wild mushrooms out today and Chanterelle topped the list of what I was hoping to find. It was interesting to see the different families of mushroom with the Russula, Amanita and Chanterelle family members out in numbers. Above we see 2 of the Chanterelle clan with the larger and best considered (inedible) Scaly-vase Chanterelle upfront and Chanterelle at the back of the photo.

I won’t show any Amanita mushroom photos though I did see 4 different members in good numbers, the above photo though is of the plentiful Russulas with many pass their prime with visible spores already released, Russula compacta and the Almond-scented Russula were everywhere and a few white russula were out to which made me suspect the (parasitic) Lobster mushroom may have already gone to work transforming some of the white russulas in to the splashy orange clad lobster mushrooms.

In the photos above are 2 of the young Lobster mushrooms I did find in this conifer area. Hope you are enjoying a wild summer. ciao

The king is back, the lobster to and maybe the miller?

Nice to see a King Bolete.

Here is a photo showing the pores on the underside of the cap and also another little bolete relative leaning on the king.

Another king bolete not far away over seeing his domain.

A string of lobster mushroom  far out into the field, usually they will be on the very edge of fields or more commonly in the woods.

These mushrooms I suspect are Clitopilus prunulus (sweetbread or miller mushroom), since I haven’t collected or eaten this one before they will need to be preserved until their identity is verified which means I’ll mail out a few dried specimen soon as matching field characteristics and a pink spore print just aren’t enough to take a chance on, this one has a few dangerous look alikes..  ciao

Burly mountain memoirs

Some Burly Caledonia Mountain, Albert Co, NB Balsam fir trees.

A few mountain mushrooms.

Lobster mushroom

Chanterelle

Garlic Marasmius, these little mushrooms do smell quite garlicy and many of them appear to be growing on the end of just one decomposing Balsam fir needle. This is my first collection of this very common tiny mushroom in this area.

I never seen or talked to anyone out in this neck of the woods, though I get the message it is best to watch my Ps and Qs up here.

I’ve consumed enough for today, time to head home with a half tank left and 20 miles to go. Ciao for now