MARI(matsutake)TIME 3

Last post on Matsutake for 2018 is on the not so obvious Maritime matsutake appearing in wet areas sometimes with what seems young spread out conifers or possibly older stunted trees with abundant acidic loving shrubs.

You have to wander around and look close to find these ones. Oh, I see some light sandy brown in there.

Now bend down.

It takes someone who is not in much of rush to enjoy gathering these lovely Maritime Matsutake in knee to waist high shrubby areas, great fun for some of us though. Ciao

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MARI(matsutake)TIME 2

Different Maritime forest terrain then the last post, but under this mixed forest we have once again some nice Matsutake mushrooms.

I like this photo as much of the mushroom caps are covered on all 3 of these mushrooms yet from 30 meters you know its Matsutake by the size of the rounded cap and the way the cap has a subtle illumination cloudy or sunny its there.

Here we see on the right half some fully open Matsutake the gills on these ones will be turning brown soon. The mushroom you see flip over gills up is a huge one measuring 28 cm across and weighing 1 1/2 lbs, oh what a tasty Matsutake it was.

Leccinum piceinum

Here are some photos from a few weeks ago when I gathered a bunch of Leccinum piceinum for drying. The safety in eating orange and red capped Leccinum has been in question for the last decade as a number of folks in NA have suffered GI distress after eating these mushroom fresh and possibly under-cooked but maybe well cooked as well? Supposedly no one has had any issues with the dried mushrooms which can be used in soups or cooked after rehydration. I suspect drying is the way to go if you have any interest in eating red or orange capped Leccinum mushrooms which are usually difficult to identify to specific name.

These mushrooms are real standouts in mossy spruce forest anywhere from late June till November when conditions are right in the Maritimes.

A look under the cap at the pore layer and loose tissue along the edge of the cap.

This is probably the easiest red/orange Leccinum to ID due to it growing in mossy spruce areas with no birch or poplar trees to complicate matters as there are several types of Leccinums growing under those hardwood trees.

Last look at quite a photogenic Maritime mushroom. ciao

 

 

Umbrella polypore

Short post on my first gathering of Polyporus umbellatus which is a rare and quite unusual wild edible mushroom here the Maritime provinces. This Umbrella polypore is the size of a loaf of bread and has a scent of toffee. Umbrella polypore is also aka the medicinal mushroom Zhu Ling which makes use of the large woody sclerotia underground the fruiting mushroom. These sclerotia left as is should produce fruiting mushrooms for decades, so I shall return next year to check this out. Zhu Ling is best known for its results for folks with lung cancer and has a long history of usage in China. As for  tastiness of this above ground mushroom, I’ll add a comment later on after I fry some up. This mushroom was found near birch, poplar and young beech so keep your eyes open my fellow Maritime foragers.

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

Awaken to a Chanterelle dream

This photo was so magically hazy I had to find away to place it in the post. A few hundred chanterelle on this steep hillside made for some pleasant shady picking. Click on the photo to see all the little orange ones all over the place.

A closer Chanterelle look but still a little groggy.

Now in this Maritime dreamland there are more than just Chanterelles as here we see a bolete in the King Bolete clan.

Check the bottom of the stem to see if it is still solid and no significant worm holes and this one as you can see is in good shape for eating.

I’ve found this mushrooms conifer cousin before on mature eastern hemlock but here is my first run in with Chicken of the Woods, Laetiporus sulphureus which you will only find on hardwoods, usually the uncommon red oak in my area, unfortunately.

Some may have a reaction to Laetiporus so start with a small amount the first time out. This is day 2 for me with this mushroom as an edible and really enjoyed it cooked in butter then made into a sandwich with lettuce and mayo, the initial try was a piece the size of a dried apricot sliced in 1/4″ strips and fried in olive oil for 10 minutes which was over cooked but I could see potential. So concludes this dreamy Maritime mushroomy post. ciao

Chaga in a winter hinterland

Way back in the last days of 2015 I decided to go and harvest my winter chaga before the snow became to deep on a cool -12 C afternoon. It has been cold enough lately so all the main medicinal properties should be locked in tight in this chaga mushroom. With only 5 inches of snow on the ground this was quite easy walking through thick mostly conifers only 100 meters off a path to this paper birch tree which I found in the summer, at that time this tree was able to produce leaves in some of the top branches so the medicinal flow through the tree trunk is still fresh.

Summer view (July 24/2015) of same chaga mushroom.

A photo capturing some of the snowiness of the day.

 

Something new as I made a phone video which I thought I could upload directly here at wordpress but that turned into quite an adventure ending with me joining Yahoo-Flickr to stage any clips I’d like to embed here on this blog. I learnt a few little things along the way, like how to hold the phone on my next attempt, anyway a glitch or 2 in uploading but not to bad for a first try. ciao

Hemileccinum subglabripes

This is the same small bolete I’ve seen in good numbers most summers for the last 40 years usually on edges of mixed forest pathways with plenty of birch and poplar in the mix. The cap is brown, pore surface yellow, stem initially yellow and flesh usually whitish yellow. This mushroom does not turn blue when cut and the pore surface does not turn orange or red. The stem does eventually blush red.

It has gone through some name changes over the years being mostly listed as a Boletus or Leccinum though I kind of like this new name as it just didn’t seem to fit into those other names very well.

The best ones for eating are the very young mushrooms like these here in the photos, usually by the time the yellow stem is blushing red the cap is thin and the pore surface should be removed, best use at that time is to dry for winter soups by letting the flavour of the dried mushroom develop for a few months.

If you are 100% sure of your identification of this common Maritime mushroom and decide to give it a try as an edible I suggest you discard the solid somewhat tough stem which are similar to the Leccinum mushrooms stems and only eat a few caps (well cooked) pan fried till a crisp brown, the taste is a little lemony, quite good. The dried mushrooms are top notch as well. This is a mushroom I’ve never specifically gone out to gather though usually end up gathering a good supply while Chanterelling during the summer months. 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

Mushroom page post

Going to add these photos to my (wild edible mushroom) page eventually, so I thought some folks may like to see what is currently appearing in one of our Maritime forest. Above we see a few Boletus subglabripes which is our most common summer Boletus, it is not very large though it makes up for this in its great numbers in our typical mixed woods of poplar, red maple, birch and conifers.

Here is drier load of B subglabripes from yesterday

 

Gypsy mushrooms are also starting to show, as you can see in moss only the cap is usually visible.

Here is a look at some young Gypsy mushroom (Cortinarius caperatus) lifted from the moss and these are at a good edible stage.

Looking at these 2 orange colored Lactarius mushrooms it appears their orange latex on their gills is not going to stain green or burgundy so they must be Lactarius thyinos which is a good edible mushroom. This is a mushroom I do not find many of though I may receive a surprise some day.

Surprises are very common in our forest as it is rare a day when I am not , example – I wasn’t expecting to find any Boletus caerulescens an other choice edible in a mossy conifer woods of pine and balsam fir yesterday when I usually only notice this mushroom under Norway Spruce, but here they are. ciao